I must be Insane
by SoinyMariaRose
Summary: Let's get the facts straight; I woke up, with freaking head trauma. That's a check... everything looked like a damn anime. Another check... I'm in freaking Amestris-wait, what? It's finally happened... I've lost my marbles.
1. Dreaming in Denial

**Note**: (The first few chapters of this story are flawed, I know. I plan on editing them eventually and shortening paragraphs. Along with changing some events and making it hopefully flow better.)

**Disclaimer: **The following fan fiction is just that, and has no association with Manga or Anime(s) of Hiromu Arakawa's _FullMetal Alchemist_; this is pure fan humor, and shameless self-insert. (But no Mary sues here; so hah.) The author does not claim to own anyone by herself; all the main characters are not hers. She will not rip off of or claim something copyrighted… yeah. This is mainly just a humor/adventure thing, so, maybe enjoy. The author will continue regardless~ Oh; the author does own the random kind pedestrians that help the moron's butt when she has head trauma. Yay for magical help! Though, all they do is patch her up, and she stumbles off fast.

This first chapter is going to seem a little angsty—so shut up. This may be humor, but, FMA is filled with a lot of drama, too.

Rated: **M**, for Mature

Content: Adult Language, Brief Adult Content, Violence, My perverted Mind, and some Drama (cause it wouldn't be FMA without the Drama)

Genre: Humor/Adventure/Action

Summary: Oh shit; well, looks like I've landed in one of those damn fan-fiction situations. Bugger off, I'm not in the mood to deal with the people staring at me like I'm flipping crazy. Hell, I might have finally snapped! Cause there is no way in hell that I am in a god damn Manga, standing on a doomed country, with head trauma. This is great… just freaking great. I'm in god damn Amestris.

**Dreaming in Denial**

… Ow… mother fucking ow…

Blood seeped through the front locks of my hair, and I could smell it in the air. Bile collected in the back of my throat, but I just swallowed it down with a shudder. What happened?

I felt a pathetic whimper drawl out in the back of my throat, as I tried to pry my eyes open. They were being stubborn right now, and it just aggravated me more. I thought I heard someone shouting, but chose to brush it off as nothing. My eyes finally opened wearily, as I let out another strained whimper. I'm pretty sure my vision was blurred as hell, because instead of seeing the ceiling of my room, I saw the freaking sky! Only, for some odd reason it didn't look like it normally looked like. Not at all—what in the crap was going on? I would've thought that I was dreaming, if that hadn't already been ruled out by the blood I felt ruining down the front of my hair, which made me twitch in pain like crazy. I felt like crying, I never wanted my parents more than ever at that moment. What happened to me, though? I've never fainted or blacked out in my entire life, and the only time I've ever been 'knocked' out, was when the doctors used sleeping gas on me when I was a kid. A long groan emitted as I tried to flail myself to at least sit up half way. My vision slowly started to clear at last, as I rolled out a sigh of relief. That is, until the shock hit me, as I gaped at my surroundings. I must have had head trauma, because it looked like I was outside… and the outside looked like a god damn anime. Either I was going crazy, or, once again—whatever hit me, hit me pretty hard. I put a hand to my head, to see how bad the damage was; wow, I'm a freaking idiot. Sure enough, pain surged throughout my head as I seethed, clenching my teeth tightly.

"O-ow…" I must have looked so pitiful, since I sure as hell felt that way. Whatever the hell happened to my head it made it sting like crazy. I hesitantly brought my hand back down, staring at it, and nearly passed out when I saw my blood. My breath hitched, as my eyes darted around a bit frantically. Soon enough, I broke out in sweat from panic of actually seeing the damage. The color in my tan started to drain, as I began to hyperventilate while twitching uncontrollably. There was something I actually recognized, and that was my magenta backpack. Never knew that crawling three feet would be a huge struggle for somebody who more than likely had a concussion. Go figure, huh? Literally flailing my body onto the lumpy bag, I silently sobbed as I lay there in a shuddering heap. This had to be a damn dream, it just had to. Though, everything seemed so eerily familiar, yet at the same time vague. Whatever this feeling was, I cursed it to the deepest depths of hell. I finally felt somebody gently nudge me with a reassuring hand, as a low and gentle voice followed after.

"Miss… can you stand?" I shakily pulled my head from the comfort of my arms, as I shot up to stare at an older woman. My stomach jumped into my throat, and I'm sure that my eyes were as wide as freaking saucers; I already had come to terms that there was a possibility I hit my head so hard that everything looked like an anime, but, the way the woman who looked slightly bewildered stared down at me—was definitely all too familiar. The style of her features, the way her eyes curved it was something I knew so much about, but the throbbing in my head just blocked out what I was trying to remember. Knowing that I probably looked like a crazy person, I shook off the gaping expression I wore as I slowly tried to stand. Apparently, my legs and feet didn't get the memo it was time to get up, so I ended up wobbling and stumbling forward. The woman caught me by the arms, frowning. "We need to get you to a hospital." I tried to speak out, but stumbled forwards into her arms, trembling. Her eyes softened, as she gently patted my back. I blacked out again, only faintly hearing her yell for someone to help her drag me away.

That was the last thing that I could remember… before I woke up abruptly, with an annoying light blinding my vision.

"Mmm… g-get that… damn… light…" I babbled incoherently, my hand waving towards the source of the annoyance—only to be pinned down. My body soon stiffened, my eyes finally widening as I became fully conscious. Scrunching my nose, I stared up at an older man, whom I guessed was a doctor.

"Miss, don't fidget, please… do you think you can sit up?" I could barely hear him, since he spoke with in a low monotone voice, which just made me want to fall asleep. A scowl was evident on my face, as I nodded, my voice betraying me while I groggily sat up against whatever I was laying on. It felt like the room was spinning, and I immediately threw my head forward with a loud groan. The doctor just chuckled, lightly patting my shoulder with a smile I could barely see as I looked back up at him. "You had quite the nasty bump on the head… I patched it up, but you should probably stay in bed for a day or two, to get some rest. You're lucky my wife was walking by to help, young lady. Do you remember anything before you passed out?" Squinting my eyes, I started to think back.

"Mmgh… n-not too much; I remember that I just got home, and I was drawing. Everything else is a huge blur. I don't even know how the hell my head got so banged up… I think I'm still suffering from the head trauma, too. Everything around me looks like a cartoon." I laughed nervously, as the doctor just stared at me, dumbfounded.

"A… a cartoon?" Slowly, a frown grew on my face as I nodded my head for emphasis.

"Yeah, like, a _really_ familiar cartoon… like…" It suddenly hit me—everything looked like freaking Hiromu Arakawa's FullMetal Alchemist! I knew that I had a vivid imagination… but—is it really possible for somebody to get hit hard enough, to filter everything around you to look like a popular Graphic Novel? Apparently so; I really needed to stop asking myself stupid questions that I already knew the answers to. "Gah… j-just never mind about what I said, then. I'm sure it'll go back to normal soon. Do you know where exactly are we, by any chance?" I questioned, raising a brow. Since I knew for certain this sure as hell was not the crappy county that I lived in.

"Well, you're inside of the town's clinic."

"That's not what I meant." Aggravation leaked out with each word I seemed to spat. I didn't mean to sound rude, but, I really did just want to go home.

"Sorry, sorry; you're in the town of Larendale, five towns away from Central." The doctor soon pointed out on a map that was on the other side of the room, as I blinked for a few moments, my mind slowly processing what he just said.

"…I'm sorry, did you just say Central?" The trauma must have affected my hearing, because there is no way in hell he just said **Central**.

"Yes, Central; you know, capital of _Amestris_?" My heart started to pick up in tempo right after the older man muttered those words, and my voice was gone. This had to be a dream… do to the head trauma… yes; I still haven't woken up! Ahahah, ha… yea… yeah! I began giggling hysterically, shaking my head in disbelief with a grin as I held my head. The doctor stared at me with worry and bafflement. "Young lady…? A-are you alright?" He shuffled back towards me, gently pulling my hand away from my head as he replaced it with his own, taking my wrist as he checked my pulse in unison. "No fever… pulse is a little erratic, though."

"Hehehehhe… hahahaha… ha… I-I'm fine; this is a dream, isn't it?"

"… Excuse me?"

"A dream! Yeah, that's it!" A knowing grin spread across my face. "This is such a relief… oh, god. I thought I was going crazy!" Another giggle boomed from me, while the doctor just stared long and hard at me, worry flashing his features. I calmed down a little after watching his features, but smile disappearing fast. Just because he was a figment of my subconscious's imagination, doesn't mean I didn't feel sorry for him. Hell, why not play along, huh? I waved my hand to assure I was alright, and spoke, "Baah… maybe I got knocked to the head a little too hard, huh? Think I'm just going to rest…" Slowly a smile crept upon my face. "Oh—I almost forgot… um… what's your name?"

"Doctor Neil Flitz; but you can just call me Neil." His warm smile made me feel a lot calmer, as I nodded my head.

"Thank you, Neil."

"May I ask, what is your name, miss…?" Pfft—god, he made me feel old when he called me that.

"Brooke—you can just call me that." Neil put out his hand, and I grasped his with mine as I shook. "It's a pleasure to meet you… thanks for helping me."

"You're welcome—there's no need to thank me. It was my wife who found you, after all, J'oanne. I think it would be best if you stay with us though, until your feeling a bit better… do you have a number where I could reach your family?"

"Um—they're out of… town." I rubbed the back of my head, and he could catch the uncertainty in my tone. His brows furrowed, but, Neil decided not to ask any further questions on the matter for the time being. "S-So… how much do I owe you?" I trembled at the thought of having to pay for something, even if it was a dream; doctors are freaking expensive!

"Well, since this is under… odd circumstances, you can just pay me back by maybe helping around here. Some days it gets a little crowded, and I need some help sorting out patients. Think you can handle that?"

"I'll try~!" Saluting in a goofy manner, I grew a huge grin when he chuckled. "Say, Neil… did your wife by any chance bring me in with a backpack?" I began to frantically search around for my belongings, when Neil picked up the pack by his feet, and carefully plopped it into my lap.

"Was that what you were looking for?" I smiled sheepishly.

"Aheh… yeah~"

Little did I know, though… this wasn't a dream; it was sheer denial.

**SMR**: Yeah, sorry for the long, uninteresting chapter! XD Yes, I'm sorry, guys; this is a self insert, and told through my own eyes. Don't worry; I'm not a rabid fan girl. This was mainly made for pure fun, but, the idea turned into an adventure... cause I like action... and violence... warning: if I somehow get Roy's gloves later in the fan fiction, prepare for multiple explosions.

Because I'm a firetard.

(I shall probably be in denial until maybe the middle of chapter two. I mean, I may be a fan-but, I like to think from realistic points of views.)

Reviews on how I can improve on it, please? ^^ I will not have any characters OOC, don't worry. Also, this is going to be based on the Manga-cause the Manga rules. [/nod] I'll probably comment later in the story, being grateful that everyone spoke English. XD Cause, I would be screwed if they spoke any other language.


	2. A Shattered Reality

_I must be Insane — _Chapter 2

**A Shattered Reality**

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Normally my dreams don't even feel very long, since they usually are short lived and probably ranging around a minute to a minute and thirty seconds. This one however, felt like it was dragging on for hours on end. The whole thing slowly started to stress me out to a point that I wanted to scream for the damn thing to be over already. Shortly after arriving at the Flitz's home, I had taken a long shower to wash out the dried blood that was clinging to my hair still from when I first 'woke up' in Larendale. It was kind of weird to use the shower though, because everything was just so… yeah. It creeeped me out yet at the same time tickled my inner geek happy. When I got out, I began to examine myself closely in the mirror; just as I thought, I looked like a freaking anime character! Man was my interpretation of myself in drawings I attempted in Arakawa's style _way_ off. Absent midndedly running my fingers through my drenched hair, I tried my best to and not touch where that weird bump formed on the back of my scalp. After I dried my hair off, I had to be sure to ask Neil to change my bandages since I had to remove the old ones in order to wash out all of the blood. I found out a lot in the hours I'd been dreaming about Neil and his wife. Other than running the town clinic for a living, Neil liked to go fishing every Saturday as a hobby at the town lake that was famous for its huge bass. His wife, J'oanne ran the local bakery and was also the town's treasurer. They had one son whom was in the Amestrian military (go figure) as a private currently, and had enlisted about a year and a half ago. He was stationed up in Briggs which made me grimace at the mention of the military base. Knowing far too well from the Manga of not only the harsh weather up in those mountains that made it difficult to live in, especially if you had any automail limbs, but also the fact that the queen bear herself (Olivier Mira Mustang) ruled with an iron fist. Oddly enough though his parents said that he **enjoyed** working up there. The man must have been as crazy as everyone else who resided within the iron and ice fortress.

After I got dressed and cleaned up, I walked out of the bathroom and back into the hallway of the Flitz's home. It wasn't entirely a big house, though it also wasn't that small either. It was cozy and made me actually feel welcome to be under their roof in such an odd situation. Of course, I knew that it wouldn't last long… it was a dream, after all. I know this sounds weird, but I actually kind of felt sad knowing that I would never see them again. They were good people and I was starting to feel a little attached to them. Wandering down the hallway now, I looked at family pictures that littered the walls as a small smile planted on my face. For a dream this had to be one of my most vivid ones yet—this house, the people, and all of those pictures just seemed so clear and real. Most of the time my dreams seemed a little fuzzy or I would have sort of an 'out of body' experience, watching my own actions from another angle. I didn't know why at the time, but I felt a strange fear suddenly bubble in my gut as something poked annoyingly in the back of my mind. That poking was trying to make me see that this was a little bit **too** realistic to be a dream… that I could actually be inside of—no damn way. Someone falling into a ficitonal or alternate reality was only in stupid trippy ass fan fictions. My dreams may usually have a 'trippy' esque feeling but if this was _really _real then it would go against every sense of logic this was true. Amestris was a fictional country, in a fictional world that belonged in a Japanese graphic novel that was created by a woman who drew a cow to represent herself. The whole idea just makes it sound like I was completely off my damn knocker! My thoughts soon came to a halt when I heard a familiar voice rise up.

"Brooke… are you alright, dear? You seem a bit distant and your tan has paled quite a bit." I snapped my head around to stare at J'oanne straight in the face. I gave a reassuring smile, and sighed.

"Y-Yeah… I think so. Just pondering over something, is all. I'm sure it's nothing though." J'oanne let her worry slip away for the moment, as she gave a nod for her response.

"Well—if you're hungry, I have some dinner on the table."

"You don't have to offer me anything to eat—you and Neil already have done enough for me. This is just too much…" I bit my lower lip as guilt began to slowly eat at my stomach. They were far too giving—I wasn't really used to this hospitality. It was rare to come across such kind folk, since I deadpanned years ago that most people (not all, but most) were jackasses. J'oanne stared at me for a good few minutes before letting a frown form across her lips. Heaving a weary sigh, she just shook her head…

"Brooke, it's quite alright; you've been through a lot within the past couple of hours, and you need more rest as well. I wouldn't be able to call myself a good mother if I couldn't even temporarily take care of another person's baby for a few days." Her frown grew back into a gentle smile as her eyes softened with a welcoming glow. "Now, I made some chicken pot pie with mashed potatoes. Would you like anything to drink? We have **milk**, water, lemonade—" Before she could go any further, I raised a hand.

"**Lemonade**, please—if I could have some of that." That disgusting white liquid known as milk, I refuse to drink. I don't care if it seemed like I hated milk because Ed was in the top three of my favorite characters, I just hated the stuff. I've hated it along with cheese since I was four; they tasted like freaking vomit and I wouldn't have any of that nauseating stuff touch my lips. J'oanne gave be a sort of skeptical look before nodding, then walked past me in the direction of where I guessed the kitchen was. Getting a better hold on the straps of my backpack I walked off towards the kitchen after her with a drawled out yawn. When I entered my senses were bombarded with a heavenly aroma of delicious things that I wished were instead of my stomach right then. I could've sworn that I was drooling—damn, if that pot pie tasted as good as it smelled… coughing, I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

"Someone looks a thousand times better than they did a few hours ago." Neil chuckled as he ruffled the local news paper that he held. My eyes darted to him as I began to stuck out my tongue then thought against it. One of the topics that was printed on the reading material caught my eye though; a side article mentioned something about state alchemists being murdered by an unknown suspect, and the thought made me shudder. One of the few reasons why I shuddered at the article was because I knew _exactly_ who the murderer of those people was—Scar. I didn't know whether it was a blessing to know about such things just plain disturbing. I think I'm going to stick with a blessing since I knew exactly who to evade for my own good. Walking over to the table, I took a seat as I placed my backpack by the side of my legs.

"You bet~ Think you could patch me back up after dinner, doc?" I earned a chuckle from Neil, which made me grin.

"I would be glad to patch you up; I want to check on your head anyways. When you were changing, did you notice any bruises forming on your body?" He questioned from a completely clinical point of view. I ponder for a moment, and then clicked my tongue.

"Yeah… for some reason, I have bruises on random parts of my body. I wouldn't be bothered by them normally since I sometimes get bruises on my arms and legs due to me being a klutz in the morning and at night, since I bump into things—but this is different." For some odd reason I shuddered at the thought of the bruises, like something told me that I got them through means that must have scared the shit out of me. My mind was blocking it all out still, which only gave me more aggravation. Groaning from the frustration that began to grow, I ran my fingers through my hair again as I grasped a few strands of my hair then began pulling slightly. "Damn it."

"If you don't mind me asking—have you been able to remember anything yet?" Neil decided to go on with questions.

"Not… really… mm. I wish I could, but, there's just something blocking everything from even letting up a little on what happened. It's starting to give me a real headache too."

"Maybe you should just leave it be for now then." J'oanne piped in, setting down plates with food on it in front of us both as she went back to retrieve her own plate. I grinned while hungrily looking down at the delicious food waiting to be attacked in front of me. Neil almost busted out laughing at my expression, as I drooled a little more. He picked up the napkin next to him then shoved it in front of my face.

"You might want to wipe that drool from your face, Brooke." I sweat dropped, and almost fell out of my chair from the odd sensation. Whoa… did I just—no, I didn't just feel an anime sweat drop. Shaking my dense head I blushed bashfully while I took the cloth in hand then wiped the corner of my mouth. After about probably an hour of eating and making light conversation, I let out a long yawn as I stretched my arms far into the air.

"Hhhaaah… I'm stuffed~" I'm sure I had the widest smirk plastered on my face at the moment, with probably some remnants of the delicious mashed potatoes that were gone in practically five minutes. Neil laughed, nodding in agreement.

"I second that motion!" Snorting, I shot a smile his way and then redirected my gaze to J'oanne.

"That was delicious! Thank you so much!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned my head right away.

"Now, then… time to check on your head." Nodding after a few seconds of registering the meaning behind those words, I got up and followed Neil into his home office. I nearly forgot about the wound… though, I still felt faint stinging. It sucked and that headache I had before sure enough came back with a vengeance. My body twitched a bit before Neil helped me sit down as a worried expression once again filled his features. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah… just that persistent headache coming back is all." I looked up at him and gave a weak smile, before he sighed and nodded. It took at least thirty minutes and a five minute lecture on being careful with the wound so I don't cause even more trauma before I was already up stairs to get ready for bed. I tossed my backpack onto the bed that I was going to spend the night in then let out another long yawn… this has been a weird dream. I suddenly started to get that bad feeling from before though, the more I thought about the 'dream' theory. If this was dream then why haven't I woken up yet? I had been trying to avoid that thought all day but my stomach started to churn with uncertainty. Once again. logic filled my mind as I shook my head.

"It can't be possible…" I muttered under my breath in disbelief while I rubbed my thumb and index finger against the bridge of my nose. An eerie chuckle suddenly filled the room which made me flinch in shock; my breath soon caught in my throat while my heart began to pound in my chest as I looked around hesitantly. "W-who's there?" I demanded while I tried my best to try and hide my fear. It appeared that my pathetic attempt at acting like I had a spine backfired, since the stupid chuckle turned into a booming laughter. Wait… the laughing echoing from behind me! Whipping my body around in slight panic, the Flitz's guest toom soon disappeared only to be replaced by a never ending empty white space. I had a vague idea of where I was after my eyes adjusted to the sudden bright eye sore and I didn't like the familiar surroundings one bit. "No… not this… not this." I shook my head eyes widening from a mixture of fear and disbelief when I saw right before me two giant stone doors hovering above the ground. I stumbled backwards a bit while shaking my head as I silently mouthed, "No, no, no! This isn't real! I-It can't be… it can't be…"

"But it is possible, human." My eyes fell soon upon the familiar white entity that made my skin crawl as it flashed a sickingly ominous grin. "I don't know why you're so surprised… the pain you felt when you first awoke should've been a dead give away. You must either be really stubborn or just naïve." I glared at it while gritting my teeth to keep the fear at bay that made me want to laugh hysterically.

"God damn it! I didn't ask for this! This can't be real! I don't care what you say… it can't be… it can't be…" I shook my head in disbelief with water beginning to make my vision hazy as my heart, which was pounding rapidly only moments ago, stopped in fear. "Oh fuck…" I was going to be sick. Grasping a hand to my chest I shook my head once more. "This can't be possible… how?"

"How? You are standing in front of something you clearly know well about, and you still ask yourself how? Nothing is impossible, child." Sweat broke out from my brow as I felt a small breeze rush over me with a sickening realization that the stone doors were opening up for** me**.

"No! I didn't do anything! I didn't commit human transmutation!" A curdling scream emitted from the back of my throat as I tried to run away from the gate. The laughter only grew as those damn black hands wrapped forcefully around me, tugging my body back as I thrashed and kicked to get away. "Let me go! Damn it!" Stupid tentacle raping bastards. "Nooo—! NOOO! I didn't commit human transmutation! I didn't commit it, I did—" Then the doors slammed closed as darkness consumed my being.

"N-Nooo." My body flew forwards as I let out soft whimpering, tears stinging my cheeks. My breathing was still erratic from the whole thing as I frantically looked around… wait—I was back inside of the Flitz's guest room. I was alright, I was safe. "No… I'm not alright; I'm not safe. T-This is… this is real." Reality finally hit me harsh as I brought my knees to my chest, then began to cry openly. "No, no, no… this shit only happens in fan fictions. This…" I did myself a huge favor, and slapped myself. I had to get it together—this was happening. I was in freaking Amestris, and this was real. Somehow, this was real… I cursed that bastard Truth while I crawled out of bed. I had to be quiet about this or else I would wake up Neil and J'oanne. I didn't want to leave them, especially after all they did for me but I couldn't think clearly at the moment. I wanted to run far away from this place. It scared me more than anything at the moment just to realize that everything I knew about logic just basically bitch slapped me in the face while it shouted that I was wrong. Grasping onto my backpack, I was about to just jump out of the window (since the room was on the ground of the house) before I stopped myself. I couldn't just leave them without at least thanking them… getting out a pen as I ripped out a piece of my sketch book paper from my backpack, I hastily wrote a note thanking them so much for all of their kindness. I made an excuse that I ended up calling my family who happened to be back home, and went on to further say that they picked me up in the middle of the night to make sure that I was alright. I knew it sounded about as convincing as saying the sky was green though you have to remember that I couldn't think straight at the moment. Throwing in a promise that I would pay them back somehow for all their kindness they showed me, I then left it on the kitchen table. With a shuddering sigh I made my way back to the room, closing the door behind me as I opened the window then jumped out of it.

I then began walking down a path, into the darkness of the night.

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**SMR**: Like it? Hate it? Drop a review! ^^''' I would appreciate it greatly, to know how I can improve this chapter, along with future ones. Thank you so much!

Oh, and another thing—I would like to say a BIG thanks to the following reviewer!

**Pitch Hart**: Thank you so much for being my first reviewer! You made me want to finish typing chapter two up today, and I thank you again for pointing out the mistakes of chapter one! I hope I did okay with this one. XD


	3. Irony is a Bitch

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 3

**Irony is a Bitch**

Side Note: Apologies in advance guys for my improper grammar~! This is my first time attempting first person and I suck at it. XD Hopefully I'll get better as I go along.

**Disclaimer: **New OCs for the purpose of Brooke's job is in this chapter: Mr. Jacobs(her boss), his son Riley, and random employees. (Note: the OCs of Qalin Textile Factory may pop up a few times as the story progresses.)

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"W-Wait—I'm strong enough to move things around! I could help lift and count your inventory off!" There I was, standing flustered with a sloppy ponytail lifting my hair up and out of my face while I pleaded with an annoyed older man. It took every ounce of willpower that I had left from passing out thanks to the surging pain that came back last night thanks to the head trauma, as I tried to keep my composure to look convincing enough.

"I already have three people working on loading up military uniforms to send to East city, young lady; I don't need anyone else on the job." Oh _hell _no! This guy was not going to reject me so easily like everyone else had! I needed a joy bad, seeing as I was beyond the point of being desperate. Along with the pain that throbbed my head, I had stomach pains thanks to not eating for awhile, along with the lovely fact that my clothes were filthy.

Now, you are probably wondering how I went from walking into the night from the Flitz's house after realizing that this hellish nightmare was real—to begging for a job from a man that owned a local clothing factory in the city I was in.

Well, on the same night that I was walking away in a slightly unstable condition I had nearly gotten run over by a bunch of traveling Ishvalan refugees who were heading up towards the slums outside of East city. They offered me a ride there probably out of pity, which I humbly accepted with an exhausted nod; that didn't mean I was planning on going to the Ishvalan slums outside of East city, though. For hours on end I had made plans on not wanting to run into any of the actual main characters from the Manga that this country existed in, unless I absolutely needed to interact with one of them if they were connected to a way of getting me home. It may have just been my paranoia, plus the whole 'I'm stuck in a place that is supposed to be fictional though apparently isn't' thing going for me, but I really didn't think it would be a good idea to run into a main character. I had an itching feeling that if I ran into the main characters then I would probably end up in front of the stupid gate again with Truth mocking me. Unless that bastard was planning on sending me home then I didn't want anything else to do with him—it—WHATEVER. I also felt like the story might end up killing me since I obviously didn't belong there, and I could be a bump in the original story if I happened to accidentally change anything. So the Ishvalans let me get off in a city two towns from Larendale called Qalin City.

I had been spending the past four days trying to get a job so I could have money to stay at a local inn, but with no avail. It had been exactly twenty one hours since I slept last and it was definitely started to take effect on me. I'm just lucky I haven't been mugged yet since I'm not exactly the strongest or fastest person around. I make Yoki look like god damn Superman for Christ's sakes! Back to the current situation at hand, though—groveling for a job to the factory owner douche; okay, so he isn't a douche I'm just being harsh. I have a reason to be though, so just leave me the hell alone now. I watched as he darted his eyes back down in my direction since he had a good four inches on me, then he heaved a weary sigh.

"You seriously want a job, girl?

"Yes, please! I'll take any job that you have for me, I just really need the money! I haven't slept for almost a whole day, I'm exhausted…" The owner groaned loudly in annoyance as he shook his head.

"Fine, fine—you can be my new inventory girl." My eyes lit up suddenly as I jumped into the air, then fell to the ground as I bowed repeatedly.

"Thank you sir, thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret this!" I looked back up at him with a huge grin.

"_I'm starting to wonder if I __**will, **__though_" was the type of expression he gave me, but at the moment I really didn't give a crap. I had a job which meant that I had a slim possibility of staying alive for the rest of the week! Before I could start really rejoicing, my new boss nabbed my attention. "Oy, pay attention! First off, what's your name?"

"Brooke—er, just Brooke."

"No last name?" He raised a brow in suspicion, but brushed it off—thank god that was going around a lot lately. Once again for strange paranoia reasons, I didn't want to give out my last name. "Alright then, Miss Brooke—here's your first job. I need you to make sure there are exactly one hundred and twenty three military uniforms in cargo A, and seventy four military uniforms in cargo B. I will give you your next assignment after you finish that." Holy crap, I was going to start working right away? I… I wanted to take a good long nap though! Oh well—working meant money, and money meant a bed to sleep in tonight. Nodding in response without hesitation I went off into the direction he pointed me towards on the loading dock outside of the factory. After about an hour and a half of counting military uniforms off I thought I was going to pull out my hair. If I ever see another Amestrian military uniform in my life, it would be all but too soon. One of the employees found me twitching inside one of the cargo crates as I sat in a heap of uniforms. They thought it was funny to throw stuff at me for a few minutes—which only raised my aggravation—but, one of the other ones took pity on me and helped my sorry butt out of there.

"Hey, kid—Amestris to new inventory girl! You alright?" My eyes snapped onto a slightly older boy/man thing, as I stared up at him like a moron. After a few minutes of playing the 'staring' game I was able to move my mouth again.

"Y… Yeah—guess I'm just tired is all. Thanks for helping me out of there, sir." The boy grimaced at being called 'sir' shaking his head now with a slight groan.

"Eheh, no problem; though, the name's Riley not _sir_." Riley had short dirty blonde hair, with dulled blue eyes and had a weird looking birthmark above his left eyebrow. I swear, I wanted to rip that thing off in one swoop. Shaking my head to get back with the program, it seemed that Riley was waiting for me to exchange my name.

"Oh, right—name's Brooke. Thanks again, Riley." Carefully trying to stand and after wobbling for almost two whole minutes, I finally was on my own two feet again as I yawned. "Damn… I think I finished all of my work. Maybe I can take a break…"

"What did my dad stick with you for a job, anyways?"

"Well, he—wait, dad?" I blinked and stared once again at Riley, my eyebrows practically sky rocketing into my non-existing bangs. Riley grew a goofy grin from whatever odd expression I had slapped on my face, as he laughed lightly.

"Yeah—my dad's Mr. Jacobs. So, what job were you stuck with? You've got to be new, cause I've never seen you around here before."

"Er… yeah… I just got the job today—I took over as new inventory girl. I just finished making sure all the uniforms were in the cargo boxes to be transferred tomorrow up to East City."

"Oooh, dad stuck ya with the East City job, did he?" For some reason his tone didn't sound very comforting when he mentioned the 'East City job'.

"I-Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Worry dawned on me in a split second after that remark he made about the job, but he waved it off as nothing.

"Not really—just I was supposed to do that job, til… ahah, yeah." Riley pointed down at his left arm as my eyes wandered in that direction—HOLY SHIT. He had a cast on! How did I not notice that before? "Looks like you get to go on the train to East City, then!" My eye suddenly started to twitch—no. No, no, no no no no!

"W-What? U-um… your dad didn't mention anything about actually seeing the cargo gets delivered! I'm the inventory person, not delivery-!"

"Yeah, sorry; dad wants to make sure that you count off all the uniforms when they reach East City, before they get delivered." Riley started to feel a little awkward at my obvious resentment of his father at the moment. "Did you have a bad experience or something over there?"

"Not exactly… it's just… I really wanted to avoid running into certain people there." I'm sure that Truth bastard was cackling away at whatever form of irony that just bitch slapped me in the face. I was going to East City tomorrow and there was nothing I could do about it. I'd better be getting a nice pay from doing this job, damn it all.

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**SMR:** Yeah, sorry for the uninteresting, short and lack of a story chapter guys! I just thought that it would be a little weird if Brooke magically had money and a place to stay after leaving the Flitz's, and I wanted to keep the realistic aspect of it alive. Don't' worry, in the next chapter there will be more action and comedy! Promise!

Not sure if there will be much character interaction, though.

Once again, a BIG thank you to **Pitch Hart**, for pointing out flaws! ^^ Hope I did a little better in this uninteresting chapter!

Reviews, please?


	4. Well Screw you too, Edward Elric!

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 4

**Well screw you too, Edward Elric!**

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A few hours into work and I was already exhausted—it had been nearly two hundred military uniforms and multiple inventory stock to count off until I was finally allowed to take off from work for the evening. After ten minutes of going over my salary along with hours of work it wasn't long before I was off again into the streets of Qalin. I only wished I understood the Amestrian currency system, though. I knew that it followed closely with Japanese currency at least but I didn't know jack shit about that either. For some reason I had a bad feeling that I would eventually end up over paying for something which would lead to me becoming broke later on. Then I would just be back to where I started a few days ago, and I sure as hell wasn't planning on letting that happen again. Lurking around after asking for multiple references on the safest and cheapest of inns in Qalin, I had decided to crash at the 'Mayvark Inn' next to an old book store.

When I entered my temporary new home I decided to take a shower, drink something, and then fall ungracefully into bed all around eight o' five p.m. I knew that I had to get up early in the morning in order to catch the train to East City. The train was coming from a city called _New Optain_ and would only be making a momentary stop in Qalin. Slowly drifting off into sleep I was able to do one thing that I hadn't been able to do for the past couple of days: relax. Ever since the realization that I wasn't going to wake up under the blankets of my **real** bed had finally seeped into my mind, I haven't been able to think straight or enjoy myself once. With a tiny light of hope on the horizon though, I could finally stop feeling sorry for myself and just doze off like no tomorrow. Unfortunately for me tomorrow came a little too soon for my tastes. I felt the sunlight hit me directly in my _damn freaking eyes_ as I groaned while turning in a small fit within the comfort of my covers. Rising abruptly out of bed after pinching my left arm to a point where I broke the skin, it only took me about a half an hour of stumbling about to get dressed. Soon enough I was fully dressed and awake, then swung my backpack onto my right shoulder as I skipped out the door.

…

"_Auuuugh_… why the hell does Amestrian train stations have to be so damn confusing?" I finally did reach the train station after being redirected three times by people who knew the city better than I did, but as soon as I had gotten there I realized just how big the platform really was. People crowding and shoving you out of the way as others clung to their belongings for dear life as they tried not to get ran over—sounds like a regular amusement park; _literally_. After almost five minutes of struggling through the crowds while trying to make sure I didn't get knocked over I had finally reached my destination. Relief flooded over me as a kind train conductor leant me a hand out to help get me up into the train. Making my way down through the passenger train car, I noted that I had some pretty odd stares shot in my general direction. Maybe when I get to East City I should buy some clothes that didn't make me stick out like a sore thumb. Letting out a yawn that had been creeping up this whole time while I walked to my seat I stretched my arms slightly into the air. As soon as I hit my chair, I know I drifted off into sleep once I positioned myself so I could lie down and use my backpack as a pillow. Mm… sleeeep… sleep… slee—

**Clink!**

Mother fu…

**WHAM!**

Son of a…

"What the hell is with all the noise?" I rose from my seat, eyelids still droopy since I was not completely out of the realm of sleepy land. Some of the other passengers around me only paid me mind for at least a few seconds, before they all went back to staring at whatever the hell those noises were. Next thing I knew I heard a strange high pitched voice break out into what seemed like a rant.

"**WHO THE HELL IS THE FLEA-SIZED ULTRA SHRIMP?**" What was my automatic reaction to such a familiar rant, you say? Laughing my still dazed ass off while trying to not fall down onto the dirt ridden aisle of the train.

"HAHAHAHAHA! F-FLEA SIZED… BUWAHAHAHAAHA!" I threw a hand to my face while trying to keep my composure so I wouldn't end up looking like a total jackass, though I was failing miserably at it. Why did that line sound so familiar, though? Oh, shit… my laughter fizzed down to a nervous chuckle when I fully became awake and aware of exactly why it seemed all too familiar. Sure enough I saw familiar golden eyes ablaze in a blind fury, directed straight at me as the blond tried to take a leap at me after he had finished with what appeared to be a terrorist. Lucky enough for my sorry butt that just in the nick of time a familiar suit of armor grasped onto his older brother making sure to hold him firmly against the chest plate of his armor.

"LET ME GO, DAMN IT, AL! THAT **BITCH** CALLED ME SHORT!" I stumbled back a bit in shock, since I didn't expect Edward god damn Elric to be screaming at me and calling me a bitch. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew very well I was not capable of even being a challenge in a fight against the Elric, it still took every fiber in my being to not lunge at him with a sucker punch straight at the crotch. Granted that I did feel offense from having the alchemist call me a bitch just because I unintentionally called him short; I had to just brush it off as nothing though, lest I end up getting further involved with main c—MAIN CHARACTERS, CRAP! Why in the hell were the damn Elric brothers on the train heading to East Cit… wow, I think I just hit a whole new level of stupidity. No duh they were going to East City since that was where Ed's commanding officer was stationed at! Now that I took a good look around the train and stared at the semi conscious and unconscious hijackers that lay on the ground, I slowly recognized what exactly was going on. If I remembered right this was the train that gets taken over by a group of radicals… man, did the universe love to make me suffer. All I did in response to Ed shooting me occasional glares as he interrogated the only terrorist that was conscious was sticking my tongue out as I scrunched my nose. That little act satisfied me enough since it made the blond seem even more pissed off at me and I was alright with that. Even if he still managed to be one of my favorite characters after that little stunt, he calling me a bitch just like that still hurt. Feeling myself let go of that petty comment finally I was able to relax when I saw the Elric brothers start to act out their plan of action. Alphonse was already heading towards the other passenger cars, while Edward had gone out the window and onto the top of the train. Probably another half and hour or so we finally made our destination to East City which made me feel much more at ease to be in. Finally I could get the show on the road then leave before I ran into anyone else by stupid coincidence. As I got off with my backpack swung under and around my right arm, I cringed the slightest when the area felt for some odd reason a lot warmer. Sure enough as soon as I turned my head there was the Flame alchemist himself frying that terrorist wannabe with ease. "**You**…"

What?

Turning my head in a slightly different direction I had to stare down a couple of inches (hah) to come smack face to face with that damn persistent Elric again! If he wasn't starting to piss me off right now I probably would've had a geek moment on the spot. Raising a brow I calmly stated in a lowered tone, "Mhm… what exactly _about_ me? Unless you need something I would suggest that you please move out of my way." Narrowing my eyes to try and match the evil glare that Ed gave me, I received a snort as he raised a hand to point a finger towards me. God damn it did I hate when people do that.

"I wouldn't be such a smart ass to the guy who saved your sorry butt just now! You called me short!" Why couldn't the bean sprout ever let go of something? I swear the Elric was worse than women when it came to holding grudges!

"I didn't intentionally call you that, if you could just stop acting like mister 'my shit smells better than yours' for a moment to think back about it. I was half asleep when I woke up during the whole commotion on the train. If giving you an apology to have you out of my way for saying something unintentionally will toss aside this huge waste of my time, then fine—I'm **sorry** for calling you short," I decided to also add in with gritted teeth for good measure, "-and **thank you**, for taking care of the hijacking situation." You uppity midget uber mcbean flea who's so small a microcell would swallow you whole in a millisecond and be none the wiser. Okay, so I was obviously _not_ over the whole bitch comment yet. Normally I take being called a bitch a compliment from others though, because I just love to piss stupid people off; but since I've been under so much crap lately I guess I really didn't need the insult. Edward looked like he was about to go into a raving frenzy in regards to the sarcasm that so charmingly leaked from my tone when Alphonse intervened quickly.

"Brother—she said that she was _sorry_… we need to get going, the Colonel wants to talk to you. I'm sorry for my brother's behavior, miss." My temper slowly started to cool off from the genuine kindness the younger Elric gave off as I grew a small smile and nodded.

"No, it's perfectly fine... thank _you_ for showing me such manners, unlike your rude brother." Sending another nasty look at Edward, I turned on my heel and went off to complete the job that had taken me to East City in the first place. As I walked off I heard a small argument ensue between the two brothers that just left a cocky grin on my face. Point one for annoying the hell out of Edward Elric goes to me~!

It felt like an hour and a half had just flown by after I finally finished checking off everything to make sure it was in order. The ride in the delivery truck was interesting since I got to stare out the window and have my personal little mini-tour of East City. There were so many things that I never noticed before in the series within the city! Taking in every single sight I that we passed, I slowly started to drift off into thought. "_…What if I never can get home? I mean, I don't really have any idea how the hell I got here in the first place—other than the gate, that is. Even though I technically never did anything to activate it, and the whole 'this place shouldn't even exist thing' comes to mind. Auuugh!_" Ruffling my hair in frustration I didn't even notice that the van had finally stopped. Startled by the sudden feel of the truck halting, my body rocked a little with the movements of the vehicle. Groaning I finally got out of the car then swung my pack under my arms so it flung securely onto my back again. As soon as I turned around the corner of the van to get a view of the cargo inside so I could check to see that everything was still there, a car pulled up suddenly about twenty feet behind me. I turned out of sheer curiosity to see who it was when a familiar red flashed before my eyes.

"… Shit."

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**SMR:** If you're wondering how much taller Brooke is than Edward—in the beginning of the Manga, he's 5 foot 2. So, she has a good six inches on the pretentious little brat! X3

Once again, thank you **Pitch Hart** for pointing out mistakes! ^^ Hope this chapter was better and gave some of you a few giggles!

Read and review please! I would like to hear others thoughts on how this is going as well!


	5. the Inventory Girl vs the Alchemist

**SMR: **Sorrrrryyyy guys! I've had major writers block for the past few days, plus the whole planning to go to Otakon next week… [/sigh] I also was going on and off with editing out the previous chapters out with any grammar mistakes I made. I also hope that I didn't make Ed seem like a prick in this chapter! XD Technically it's my fault since I keep on blabbing without thinking about the consequences of my words. Just look at it like that, mmkay~? On another note, suggestions on how to improve the story is much appreciated/welcome! Once again this is my first attempt at first person so it's a little difficult for me. _

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 5

**The Inventory Girl vs. the Alchemist—Pt 1**

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Either the universe just loved to mess with me because it had no one else to harass at the moment, or I had the shittiest luck in all of Amestris. All I could do was just stand there and watch from a safe distance as the passengers exit the vehicle to begin their walk up to Eastern Command. Just because the Elrics _happened_ to get here around the same time I had didn't mean that I was going to interact with them ever again—right? Releasing the air in my lungs that I had been holding in ever since I saw the familiar red jacket that Edward sported around, I turned on my heel to go about my business. Carefully examining the crates as they were being unloaded for at least a good half an hour I began to grow exhausted again. That's what I get for having such lack of sleep in the past few days… I then pinched my arm at a desperate attempt to keep myself awake. Soon switching to another tactic I then busied myself by watching them unload the last crate finally. A sudden tap to my shoulder startled me a little as I spun my body around with a twitch. My neck craned up a little after a soft sigh of relief when I look up at a man that wore a military uniform. He had a blank expression on and wouldn't stop staring down at me until I finally realized what he wanted. "O-Oh… hello, sir; I'm the representative that was to deliver the new uniforms from the Qalin Textile mill. All of the uniforms should be good to go!" I grew a friendly smile to finish the deal. After the soldier gave me one last good look he nodded in approval and allowed me to walk past after we discussed more business. A cheeky grin spread across my face while I walked away with a heavier pocket. I got paid half of my fee which I now could use to buy a new set of clothes, a place to stay for the night, and the biggest essential as far as my stomach was concerned at the moment: **food**. Unfortunately I had to be extremely cheap when it came to picking out an inn to stay in just for the night, along with getting some new clothes.

"…the Sewing Life alchemist made that talking chimera for his state alchemist exam." Huh? Why does that voice that seems to get louder sound so familiar? Snapping out of the thoughts of how I needed to get myself together if I wanted to survive, I felt myself collide suddenly with something that caused a sudden searing pain in my left arm as I yelped and tumbled down with whichever poor sap I was too dazed to pay attention to when I was trying to get away from the military building. We tumbled down the remaining stairs as my body finally dislodged from the other person, then slammed into the sidewalk.

"Fuuuck…" Biting on my tongue I twitched while shutting my eyes closed. The person next to me seemed to mumble a colorful stream of swear words, as I listened to their body shift. Opening my eyes I then tried sitting up right while I brought my trembling right hand up to gently rub my left arm. Whimpering from the pain in my arm mixed with throbbing in my head I let out a pitiful sigh. "…Ow… I-I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going—" Well if this isn't the most cliché, gut wrenching irony out there I don't know what is. Sitting next to me with an extremely irritated expression plastered on his face was Edward Elric—AGAIN! If looks could kill then I would be nothing but a smear on the pavement right about now. No wonder my left arm hurt like hell, I rammed right into his automail!

"YOU, **AGAIN**?" Both of us stared incredulously at each other before Ed furrowed his brow into a scathing glare at me.

"What, are you stalking me or something now? Stupid mannish looking girl…" He snapped at me, which just made me grow a blank stare before I clenched my hands that lay at my sides into fists.

"I could accuse you of the same damn thing! Besides, I was here on business you arrogant little asswipe—" Son of a bitch, do I need to learn to think before I speak! Of _course_ the alchemist would overreact to the word 'little' even though I didn't mean it in that way. Sure enough I felt his knuckles connect with my cheek within a matter of seconds after his eyes blazed and he spat in a high pitched scream another short rant. Of course I was grateful that he chose to use his flesh hand instead of that accursed automail of his or else he would've dislocated my jaw. Not expecting to get a fist to the face by the bastard, I slid back a little and flopped back to the ground. A few seconds after the initial shock left my body, I suddenly felt the pain hit me while I let out a strained scream. Ed leapt at me as he pinned my body to the ground before I ever had a chance to try and get up. Kicking my hardest to try and get him right where it hurts, it took a lot to not cry from the pain that still filled my jaw.

"CAN A SHORTY DO THIS, HUH?" He screamed at me while I fought to open my eyes so I could attempt to glare at him.

"Ge—Get off of me!" I slurred since my mouth was starting to swell thanks to that nice punch Edward so thoughtfully gave to me only moments ago. Ed shifted as I felt the air in my lungs release into a whimper before I felt sweet relief when the pressure he put on me let up. As Alphonse lifted up the bastard off of me I thought for a split second I saw a small form of pity in his eyes, but it was just me. Sitting up carefully with a whimper I tried rubbing at my cheek only to yelp. Tears were welling up in my eyes until I blinked them away so I could suck it up and not look like a huge crybaby. I was so wrapped up in my own world that I didn't even notice someone lift me up until I flinched and clung onto the person. The feel of cool metal burning into my skin easily tipped me off to who helped me as I hesitantly looked up. Pulling away as I cringed from my body aching at the abuse I endured from the stubborn blond minutes ago, a low groan flew from me.

"I-I'm so sorry for my brother's temper… what he did was very uncalled for!" Al apologized in a soft voice as he shot a disappointed glare over in the older Elric's direction. I never understood how a suit of armor could show expressions like Al could. Hesitantly glancing past the younger boy I couldn't help but let out a soft giggle at how bewildered Ed seemed by the way Alphonse was acting towards his older brother. "Brother! Apologize!" Ed stared at him for a long moment before looking back at me in disbelief.

"B-But Alp—"

"BROTHER! What you just did was totally unnecessary… you really hurt her." Al went on to further emphasis his words by poitning a finger to the loose tears that had stained my eyes along with the bruise that was forming on my cheek while I cradled it. This time I was sure of what I saw when his golden eyes flashed with guilt at actually studying what he had done to me. Edward shifted a bit with discomfort as he directed his gaze away. Bringing a gloved hand to the back of his neck he began to gently rub at it while mumbling something almost incoherent under his breath.

"… Look… I'm—I'm so… sorr… **sorry** I clocked you one." A small scowl came soon after his apology while I scrunched my nose. Didn't sound entirely convincing but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

"I take it that you're going to pay for this young lady's medical bill, FullMetal?" That same voice I heard a split second before I practically crashed into Edward interrupted us as all eyes went towards the owner of the voice.

"Tche—why the hell do **I** have to pay for her medical bill? She should've watched where she was walking in the first place. None of this would've even happened if she didn't ram right into me." Edward crossed his arms as he shot a glare towards Colonel Roy Mustang, who only stood a few feet away from us. He wore a slightly annoyed expression that was meant for the Elric only as he raised a brow.

"Really now, FullMetal? So what you're telling me is that you didn't just assault a civilian moments ago but instead she ran straight into your fist?" The raven haired Colonel grew a cocky smirk as his onyx eyes sparked when Ed snorted into defeat.

"I didn't—augh! Fine, fine! We'll worry about this later… we need to go see this Shou Tucker guy right now!" My heart cringed in disgust when I heard him speak that deranged man's name. I just had to arrive during this part, this one part that would make me want to do something about it even though I know I cannot. Quickly pushing my disdain towards the mention of the alchemist's name into the far corners of my mind I wished this whole thing would be done with already. Maybe I still had a chance to slink away without anyone noticing—wait, where's my backpack? A frantic look grew on my face while I began to scan the area for the only thing I had to my name in this screwed up world before Al gently placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me.

"Are you looking for this?" For some odd reason I felt a lot calmer when Al carefully handed me my bag as I swung it around my good arm. How the younger teen could calm even the biggest problems that surged inside the confines of my mind I will never know.

"Y-yes… ow… thanks." I would have smiled if it wasn't for the pain that still stung at my cheek.

"If you don't mind me asking what's your name?" The suit of armor questioned politely while I stared up at his omnious glowing eyes.

"My name's Brooke…" I finally began to feel awkward talking to someone who I once thought was fictional. It just seemed so surreal that is almost made it feel like I was making light conversation about the freaking weather with him. My train of thought was broken once more by Mustang sounding a little bolder as he spat back at Edward.

"We will **help** this young lady first, Elric. You will escort her to the hospital and then we will continue on to Tucker's residence. I'll have somebody drop her off to her ho…"

"Actually—um… I'm out of town. I came here to deliver the new military uniforms from Qalin city." I quickly cut in sheepishly with a low mutter as everyone's attention shot back at me. Edward even seemed slightly _amused_ by this new fact I pointed out as he stifled a snicker.

"Y-You're a _delivery_ girl?" He put a hand to his face as his childish snickering grew into a howl of laughter that shook his body for a few minutes. My face began to heat up in embarrassment while I twitched at his immaturity.

"**No**, I am not! I… I'm an inventory girl!" That only caused him to point at me now as he laughed, while Alphonse sighed at his brother's actions. Oh how I wished that I was even the slightest bit a witty person so I could dish out comebacks left and right to wipe that smug expression off that douche's ugly looking face! All I could think of as retaliation was shoving my hand in his direction as I flipped my middle finger at him. "Why don't you kindly go and shove that platform boot of yours up…!" Before I could make the situation worse with my filthy mouth Mustang cut in once more.

"Alright, that's enough of this waste of time… you three, get in the car. We'll worry about where to send her later." I could tell that he was annoyed with the whole situation by the way his shoulders slumped while he let out an aggravated sigh. I shuffled my way towards the car without haste after standing there for only a moment to contemplate that this wouldn't be as bad as my mind played it out to be; besides, Edward was paying for my medical bill! I wish I could say that the ride to the hospital was gumdrops with sprinkles that shat rainbows of happiness but that would sound completely asinine. Tension was slowly eating away at me while I darted my eyes back and forth nervously. The Elrics sat across from me in the vehicle so it was hard to keep eye contact to a minimal. Wanting to break the uneasy feeling finally so I wouldn't feel so uncomfortable, I spoke up.

"… Sorry for bumping into you then calling you an asswipe. I was probably just frustrated about what happened on the train this morning, still." I muttered, even though a part of me was quite alright with insulting him earlier.

"Whatever…" A frown creased my lips at his 'don't give a shit' attitude but I just shook it off. Ed wasn't the apologetic type and I knew that as a fact, especially towards strangers who just up right insults him to his face. Al just sighed at his brother's reaction to my apology with a shake of his head. "So… your name's Brooke?" Ed mumbled rather unintelligently as I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, it is. What are both of your names, anyways?" Like I really needed them to tell me who they were; I guess I was just trying to make small talk

"I'm Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist." A hint of pride lingered as the blond introduced himself by his military title.

"My name's Alphonse Elric—I'm his younger brother." Al chirped in a pleasant tone that made me try to smile.

"…I'm sure it would've been more of a pleasure to know each other if we met under better circumstances." I muttered while trying to keep my smile up before I let it drop because of the swelling. Al chuckled nervously while Ed just sat there with the same scowl he gave me earlier slapped to his face. Why did he always have to be such a grouch? "You know, if you keep on pouting then your face is going to be stuck like that forever. Not that it's much of an improvement anyways…" I snickered as Ed shot a nasty look my way with a snort.

"Whatever, man-woman."

"Who the hell are you calling a man-woman?"

"I'm calling _you_ a **man-woman**!"

"Don't make me rip that antenna off your head you brat!"

"I'd like to see you try, hag!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, MIDGET FACE?"

…

This was going to be one of the longest car rides I've ever been on.

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**SMR:** Whew! I finally finished that chapter… hope this brought you at least one good giggle! As per usual, reviews are welcomed and loved! Critiques are nice as well… just please put in both the POSITIVES and the NEGATIVES. Not just the negative, please.

Another usual, thank you once again **Pitch Hart, **and anonymous reviewer **ringo**! So far you both are my only reviewers! XD


	6. Unexpected Delay

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 6

**Unexpected Delay**

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After we arrived at the hospital then checked in, I waited a bit impatiently inside of an available doctor's office. Mustang had Edward make it clear that he was the one who was paying for all medical expenses for the injuries he inflicted on me before they left in a rush. Relief washed over me once I realized I wouldn't see them again as I just kicked my legs back and forth while I waited on the patient table. A few minutes later the doctor entered to look over at me with a reassuring smile. We went back and forth after pleasantries were finished about how exactly I had gotten the injuries. Even though I was sore at Edward for getting the drop on me so easily, I began to tense whenever the doctor's expression seemed a tad angry when I mentioned that the FullMetal Alchemist had overreacted to my statement with the response of punching me in my face. Was he going to end up reporting this anyways so it would get the Elric in trouble? Nah… something so ridiculous wouldn't happen to Ed. Would it? Now that I was able to finally think about the interaction that I created with the trio it made me cringe. Crap, I altered what was supposed to happen because of this—what was going to happen now, then? I had no clue which definitely scared me. While I tried my best to stay perfectly still as the doctor examined the areas of my body I told him I felt pain surge when soon found the still healing wound on my head from when I first woke up in Larendale.

"Yikes… when did you sustain this injury? Seems like you suffered mild head trauma... it still hasn't even began to heal up properly yet!" I silently cursed him for finding that damn spot as he frowned. "I think I want to keep you in here for a few days to monitor you… I'm surprised you haven't been in a delusional state."

"W-What? Wait… I have to go back to Qalin city tomorrow! My boss—"

"Will understand after you and I have a talk with him, miss." I began to unwind slightly when the doctor gave me a stern look. It reminded me of Neil when he was examining me the first time… I kind of missed the Flitz's. Groaning in defeat I mentally pictured myself kicking the crap out of Edward. This was his entire damn fault! If he hadn't punched me, then I wouldn't be in the stupid hospital. An hour later I was bed ridden with my backpack on my lap while I repeatedly hit my head against my pillow.

"Son… of… a…" Letting out a frustrated sigh, I decided to at least try and relax while my eyes gazed out the window in my room. "Well, look at it this way Brooke… at least you have a nice view."

"I'll say."

"HOLY SHIT-!" Turning my body with a fright, a hand flew to my chest while my left eye twitched. I was too lost in thought that I didn't even notice someone walk into the room.

"Hey, hey—calm down. No need to go and have a heart attack." It took a minute to register the familiar figure that stood a few feet away from me before I gaped at him. Well, Mustang did mention that he would send someone over to take me to an Inn of my choice… I just didn't think it would be one of his subordinates. Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc studied my flustered look with amusement while he raised a brow, "The Colonel told me FullMetal knocked you one in the jaw… but he never said it would end up keeping you in the hospital." I snapped out of my trance before blinking like an idiot.

"E-Er… no… see… wait—let me start over. Who are you?" It might have seemed suspicious if I didn't even ask who he was, seeing as he just barged into my room then started talking nonsense. If this had been under more normal circumstances in any other situation, I would've demanded why there was a strange man invading my personal privacy. So why not just play along like it was that situation? Havoc grinned sheepishly for a moment when he realized that he hadn't introduced himself yet.

"Oh—hah. Sorry… Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, ma'am; Colonel Roy Mustang sent me to pick you up then send you on your way."

"Right… Mustang; it's nice to meet you, 2nd Lieutenant. Also, it's **Brooke**. Not ma'am."

"Alright then, Brooke… the doctor didn't really give me too much information on why you had to stay here for a few days. Mind letting me in on the real reason why?" Shifting my body a bit within the sheets of the bed I bite down gently on my lower lip in thought. Should I really just tell him what happened to me? He always seemed like a pretty trustworthy guy from what I always read… though… it's a completely different experience to read about someone than actually talking to them like I was doing right now. Aw, hell… why not go with the latter?

"Well… a few days ago, I suffered some pretty nasty head trauma. Can't really remember how it happened though. The only think I can remember is waking up in a some doctors clinic in a small town a few ways back. He patched me up so I thought it would be enough to let me get on with what I needed to get done. Apparently though, that _other_ doctor doesn't seem to agree with me." I tried to use my words carefully so I would not seem suspicious. The last thing that I needed right now was the military trailing my ass.

"Jeeze, sounds like you're going to bleed the boss dry." I cracked a smile as he snickered at his own joke about Edward (whom I was guessing to be 'boss'). Soon enough I joined in on the snickering before it finished off with a contented sigh.

"This seriously sucks, too… I just got a job back in Qalin city and I don't think my boss will be too happy towards my extended absence. I'm not even sure if I get any sick leave since we haven't even had a chance to go over that stuff yet!" Finishing off the sentence with a groan I began ruffling my hair over the possibility that I was going to get fired (or my pay was going to get cut) over this stupid situation.

"You know, you should really try relaxing more kid."

"I can't afford to relax…" Deciding to shut up before I let anything important slip out, I began to dig through my backpack to nab my pencil and my sketchbook. Always felt tons better after drawing out my frustration. Havoc's gaze soon curiously shifted down to the sketchbook that was sprawled across my lap with a thoughtful 'Hm…'

"You sound like a forty seven year old bitter woman with that talk, Brooke. What do you have there, anyways?" I frowned at his comparison of my discontent with an old biddy though decided to just let it drop.

"It's just my sketchbook… feeling really stressed out right now, so I might as well draw until I feel a little better."

"Sketchbook, huh? Are you any good at drawing then?" I scoffed in mock hurt at the question as my brows furrowed.

"Hell yes I'm good! … Well, not as talented as others, but… STILL! See?" Picking up the sketch book, I flipped to a random page that I barely saw had a doodle on the surface of the paper from the corner of my eye as I shoved it in Havoc's face who had apparently shuffled closer to the bed to stare at the sketchbook. Hearing an impressed low whistle I grew a smug smirk as pride swelled in my chest.

"Damn… you did a pretty decent job at drawing FullMetal. Even got that ridiculous antenna of his down!" The color in my skin soon drained as I made a colorful rainbow of incoherent curse words under my breath. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I forgot about that damn sketch! My shoulders soon stiffened when Havoc ripped the drawing out of the sketchbook while my mouth dropped. "Mind if I show your work off to some friends? Aw, shit… totally forgot. I need to go and pick up the Elrics from Tucker's place! Was nice meeting you, Brooke!" Havoc flashed a grin my way with a wave of his hand before rushing out of the hospital room. There went my drawing with the hurried Jean Havoc as I sat there with a perplexed expression wrinkling my features.

"…FUUUUUUUUCCKKKK." Gritting my teeth I began shouting a list of obscenities until a nurse finally came in to shut me up. If Ed saw that stupid drawing would that make me look like a freaking _stalker_? Thanking whoever was looking out for me that Havoc didn't see any other drawings I drew of the other characters in FMA, I ran a hand over my face with a strained sigh. "Relax, Brooke… it's just a drawing. There's nothing to get worked up about since it's not like Ed wants the 'pleasure' of seeing me again." Rolling my eyes with a cracked smile at how I could easily tell the older Elric did _not_ think of me any other way than some inventory bitch that got on his nerves. After finally clearing my mind so I could calm down, a very annoying thought bubbled back up. "Right, my job." How was my boss going to react about me being absent from work in another city for a couple of days? Deciding to try and toss my worries away I finally started sketching this whole impossible situation into a bad dream. Hours later sleep finally got the better of me while I fell against the bed then allowed my eyes to droop heavily into slumber.

…

…

…

"_Muwahahahaha! Take that, Elric!_" A sinister laughter boomed from me as I giggled with glee at the blond being slowly lowered into a tank of milk. Edward was tied to a chain while the crane that was lowering him was being controlled by me. "_Taste your worst fears!_"

"_DAMN IT ALL! This ain't funny, you hag!_" An exasperated look stuck to the alchemist's face as Ed tried his best to shoot me the most threatening glare in the world. It failed miserably since I nearly busted a gut while I giggled hysterically.

"_PFFTTTT! H-hehehehehee! S-Stop it! Stop it! You're gonna make me peee—heheehehehee!" _The fear was apparent in golden eyes that were wide as saucers by now.

"_You're freaking twisted!_" Was all he was able to retort back before I pushed the lever that held him firm in place forwards, allowing him to be dunked into the horrid white evil liquid.

"_Suck on that, Edward!_" A sneer graced my features while I just stared in amusement at his flailing mixed with the sad attempt at not letting any of the milk enter his mouth. "_REVENGE IS THE MEANIEST BITCH THERE IS!_" Another mad scientist-esque laugh left me in the happiest of moods since I came to Amestris, my smile spread wide. Deciding that I let the poor guy suffer enough my hand glided the lever back as he slowly was lifted out of the evil stuff. My amused expression suddenly creased into a mix of shock and slight fear when instead of Edward, Envy was the one hanging from the chain. The walls around me shattered as I felt my body fly backwards into a brick wall without warning. For some odd reason my whole body suddenly felt drained of energy with aches all around. Groaning I wearily lifted my head while my eyelids drooped lazily to stare straight in the face of that palm tree homunculus. The pressure of what I guessed was Envy's hand gripped at my neck that made the air in my lungs receded. He slowly lifted my body off the ground while I darted my eyes back and forth frantically to notice that we no longer were in the confines of whatever building I was 'torturing' Ed in but some demolished looking alleyway. I also could have sworn that is was day time, instead of the darkness that shrouded us in a way that made me shudder in the thought of being dragged into that door again.

"_Well, well, well… you don't seem all that smug now that I've shut you up. What's the matter? Where did that smart mouthed attitude of yours go, you pathetic human?_" A gut wrenching grin formed on his paled lips while his free arm morphed into a metallic blade similar to that of Edward's weapon he would often transmute onto his automail. My mouth opened wide to let out a scream, though nothing came out as Envy squeezed my neck harder. Water filled my eyes to a point I was pretty sure that tears were streaking my face.

"_L… let me go… I… d-didn't… do anything to you—le—_" I let out a blood curdling scream when I felt Envy stick the metal blade into my right side as I felt the warmth in my body slowly start to fade. Bile collected in the back of my throat along with strained whimpers while blood splattered onto the ground. "_I… I don't wanna die… I don't wanna die…_" I began to cry louder as that transvestite bastard let out a sadistic howl of laughter. Envy soon brought me closer to his face as he craned his neck forwards to whisper into my ear…

"_Say hello to Brigadier General Hughes for me…_" With that last sentence he then sliced open my neck as the lights in my eyes faded away.

"!" As soon as I flew forwards in a hysterical scream, I realized that I was alive after two minutes of looking around in a frantic state. Grasping onto the pillow behind me while I brought it around to my chest I began to hug it as my face nuzzled against the inanimate object for comfort. Sobs of relief along with fear wracked my body while I whispered nonsense to calm myself down. It was all just a dream… Envy wasn't here; he didn't even know I existed… I was still in the hospital. Stuck in Amestris for god knows how long, and literally stranded without any knowledge of how I came to this place. It was all just a horrible dream right? Fear still clinging to my nerves had made it difficult for me to fall back asleep but exhaustion soon won over the need to stay alert at the thought of Envy jumping out of the shadows to slit my throat open. Oddly enough I slept peacefully for the rest of the night after putting aside that terrifying nightmare.

* * *

**SMR:** No, I didn't just use one of the biggest/lamest clichés of all time with a possible foreshadowing dream sequence. You must be imagining things… STOP IMAGINING, DAMN YOU! [/shakes a fist]

Baaaah. Another uninteresting chapter flies by, but soon enough there will be more action filling in. There's going to be a time skip all the way to Central Library/Lab 5, where the homunculi shall officially come in! … Not counting that dream. XD Promise the next chapter shall be UBER LONG. It may take more than a week to do, though… not sure. Cause Otakon is next week (YESSSSS. 33 … I'm going to be a dork and cosplay this year. Second time to a convention, first time cosplaying… totally going as Ed. X3), so I'll be pretty busy getting ready for it. Once again, please point out flaws and how I could fix them!

Reviews are much appreciated and loved!

Thanks again to my past/current reviewers! ^^ You guys rule!


	7. It only gets from bad to worse

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 7

**It only gets from bad to worse**

* * *

"_**L… let me go… I… d-didn't… do anything to you—le—**__" I let out a blood curdling scream when I felt Envy stick the metal blade into my right side as I felt the warmth in my body slowly start to fade. Bile collected in the back of my throat along with strained whimpers while blood splattered onto the ground. "__**I… I don't wanna die… I don't wanna die…**__" I began to cry louder as that transvestite bastard let out a sadistic howl of laughter. Envy soon brought me closer to his face as he craned his neck forwards to whisper into my ear…_

"_**Say **__**hello to Brigadier General Hughes for me…**__" With that last sentence he then sliced open my neck as the lights in my eyes faded away._

Waking with a fright as sweat dripped from my brow, I groaned after my breathing slowly calmed back to normal. "Fucking Envy!" My voice cracked as I clenched my teeth in annoyance with myself from the feel of fresh tears staining my cheek. That had to be the fifth time I've had that nightmare since I left the hospital three weeks ago. It was getting worse because the fear started to show with lack of sleep during work. It was a miracle that I even got my supposed 'promotion' from inventory girl to a god damn delivery girl. Oh how irony once again adored giving me the center of attention with its world renowned special little ways to make me miserable. That smug expression on Edward's face with a gleam of amusement in his annoying eyes still sketched out clear in my mind when he mocked my source of income after he had knocked me one in the mouth prior a few weeks ago. That effeminate midget almost cost me my job, too! If it wasn't for Riley showing me pity from how set I was on trying to keep that stupid job I was sure that Mr. Jacobs would've fired me over the phone after I had that stupid talk the stupid doctor made me do while in the hospital. Everyone around me was just being so… so… STUPID lately it left a nasty taste in my mouth. After the burst of rage I felt towards the denser of the Elric brothers seemed to cool down I began to think back to that nightmare again.

"_Say hello to __**Brigadier General Hughes**__ for me._" Those had been the exact words that tranny palm tree had said time and time again in the reoccurring nightmare. I knew that it was still a short while before that asswipe would shoot… bile collected in my throat again, before I had to slam it down with less ease than I was used to. So, that proved it was just a dream and nothing more then—because _Lieutenant Colonel_ Maes Hughes has not passed yet. A forced smile twitched at the corner of my lips at my false reasoning while I laid my head back with more ease to drift back into a hopefully pleasant sleep.

Hours later when morning finally hit I scurried back and forth to get ready for work. I already sloppily began to fall into a routine during the day that kept me alert so I could keep my job. It began with me ungracefully falling out of my bed after the antique alarm clock that rattled my brain went off early in the morning, then the scurrying to get dressed while I tried to multitask in thinking of something for a small breakfast before I sprinted off to work. I was lucky enough to book an inn a few blocks away from the factory so I would hopefully never be late when I got into work. After hauling my half awake ass into the building I would greet the very few employees I came to see as the only coworkers who could stand being around me. It was too soon to tell if the odd group I would sit near during lunch would be considered the only friends I had in this twisted version of _Alice in Wonderland_; at least, that's how it looked like to me. Curse that stupid book reference for coming to bite me in the ass!

"Heey, Brooke!"

"Whazzat?" Snapping out of my thoughts on once again trying to remember how the hell I got to Amestris in the first place, I turned to see a very amused Riley.

"Dad has another job he said he wants to stick you with~! It sounds like it may be some fun, though!" A spark of joy shone through Riley's eyes with excitement lacing his tone. A smile crept onto my face as I chuckled at the slightly older boy's actions. Riley always seemed so enthusiastic with his job that it was admiring in some ways. Hopping off after the boss's son I stopped in my tracks when I saw a weary look in Mr. Jacobs's eyes. Furrowing my brows in slight worry I skipped over to him before halting in front of him.

"Something wrong, sir? You seem a little bit…"

"Wha?" His attention snapped too as he stared down at me—it seems he was still dazed from whatever he was thinking about. "Oh—yes, yes… I'm fine." Even though I sucked at reading when something was bothering a person it didn't take a genius to tell that worry leaked out at the end of his sentence that just made me frown. Though, I did not want to intrude on his personal life so I just kept my thoughts to myself with a jerky nod. "Anyways as you know from what Riley told you I have another delivery I need you to take. Normally I would give this job to someone who knew the city better, since it's so huge and you could easily get lost in it..." He began to trail off into an endless babble of how incompetent I was of my surroundings (gee, what a motivator.) until he finally got to the point of where my next delivery would be. "Tomorrow afternoon you are to catch the next train to _Central_ to deliver five cargos from the top of the line clothing for a famous boutique in the city. You've been working off your sick leave non stop lately and it shows that you can handle this job with a possible raise in income."

"Raise?" What is this? Is the universe finally giving me a god damn break? I could've just twirled then leapt into the air right there on the spot with glee at the thought of getting a raise. Unfortunately that inner dance in the misty meadows of rainbows, unicorns, and candy canes came to a face smashing stop when I thought of the destination I was heading too. "_Mother fucking god damn universe, kiss my ass!_" I was going to Central… the place where homunculi roamed, the head of a corrupt military sat upon his thrown with that god-awful eye patch of his, and Major Armstrong loved to prance in his shirtless sparkling glory with his valley of endless scary muscles in everyone's face awaited me. Gloom clouded over about my head while I shriveled into a corner of self angst that you would only see in Animes—oh, wait. This is one of those little things now, isn't it? It still felt weird when I would have a random outburst of vivid expressions or melodramatic moments caused from my current situation. After kicking me out of my annoying funk with a bark of orders to finish my work for the day from Mr. Jacobs, I finally was able to think straight and tried to embrace the positives of this short trip. "Come on, Brooke… get it together! So what if you're going to Central? No one is going to even know who you are, since the only characters you've met so far are Mustang, Havoc, and the Elrics—half of them are at East city anyways! Though… what if those damn brother's show up… bah! Central is flipping huge so there is no way that you'll run into those clowns!" I laughed nervously at the thought of somehow running into them for a third time. The thought of revenge on that smug midget for that nice bruise he left planted on my cheek came to mind until I brushed it off as something I would just have to deal with. Besides Edward had me outmatched in every way possible—he was more in shape than I was, for one. Trained in not only alchemy but also a form of combat from his scary yet admirable teacher Izumi Curtis, and let's not forgot his god damned alchemy. It would be over before it even began if I ever got into a fight with that automail freak show. "GOD DAMN YOU EDWARD ELRIC!" A roar of profanities flew from my mouth while I walked down the streets of Qalin back to the homey little inn I've began to grow accustomed too. That was, until I realized that I must have seemed like a crazy person ranting over my frustrations towards the alchemist… especially when I heard a small voice squeak out.

"Mommy, what's wrong with that weird lady?" A small boy tugged onto the dulled violet skirt of the old woman who just shot a quick glance at me, then back to her son as she shook her head.

"Just ignore the weird lady, Jeremy." It wasn't until I felt a feral snarl emit from the back of my throat did I notice the two had already flocked into the flood of human traffic.

"Snot nosed little brat…" Waddling my way finally to the confines of my room I proceeded to take out my sketch book as I usually did when I returned from work then began to draw out the random inanimate objects that surrounded me.

* * *

The hissing from the whistle of the train was enough to wake me from the light slumber I thoroughly enjoyed on my way to Central that afternoon. A drawn out yawn escaped as I stretched my body out nice and wide before curling everything back to where it belonged. After hopping off the train with a slight wobble when I made contact with the platform, I secured my backpack in place. Just had to make sure that everything was in order to be delivered then I could find a cheap little hotel to stay in for the next few days while arrangements were sorted out for the cargo I had temporary responsibility over. A silent but pleasant hour's drive with a man who met me at the train station to help deliver everything kept me in a pretty good mood. After getting the whole 'where to stay at for the next few days' thing out of the way, I decided to head over to a nice little diner somebody at the hotel mentioned when I was checking in. It was luckily just a few blocks away from the hotel so I wouldn't end up getting my dumb butt lost. After a decent walk over to the diner I strutted my way into the building then inhaled the mouth watering aroma that seemed to tickle my senses. After being sat at a lonely booth by a waitress I looked at the different meals that were listed off the menu. "Prices seem pretty decent… ooo, is that stew I spot?" Talking to myself was becoming quite the habit since I arrived in Amestris—guess it was a way to try and keep myself sane.

"…Brooke?" My head snapped up when I thought I heard my name get called—wait, I didn't know anyone in Central. Nor did anyone know of me (at least I hoped not), so it just had to be a coincidence or my imagination! Laughing a bit nervously at the thought of a possible stalker I shrugged it off before letting out a yawn. "Um—hello? Brooke?" Groaning as I turned myself to the side a little I froze when a shadow casted over me… slowly letting my neck crane up a little to stare at the owner of said shadow I sucked in some breath.

"_Ah, fuck._" Standing next to me was a timid Alphonse Elric who lifted his gauntlet hand to wave shyly at me.

"I thought that was you! Um… how is your cheek doing?" I forced a smile before motioning for Al to sit in the booth across from me so he would not draw attention to us by towering over me like he was right now.

"Ah, my cheek's doing just fine. Thank you for asking…" Biting my lower lip I quickly scanned our surroundings to see if a certain blond with a Napoleon complex was in the vicinity. "Er… where's your 'charming' older brother?" After Al had adjusted himself in the seat as to not bump his armored legs against me, he stared back in my direction with full attention.

"O-Oh... well, brother's actually in the bathroom right now. We only came here to pick up some dinner, and then we are going back to our dorm." Lovely, so the loudmouth was in the building. "What are you doing in Central, if you don't mind me asking?" I giggled at how bashful the behemoth was then sighed.

"I'm just here on business as usual. A week and a half after going back to work I got a 'promotion' to delivery girl." I murmured under my breath with a tinge of embarrassment showing in my tone.

"That's great! At least you're still working hard… um… I don't know if you remember him, but, 2nd Lieutenant Havoc told us that you had to stay in the hospital longer than expected. He wouldn't say why, though. I actually wanted to come and visit you once but…" His voice trailed off in a sadden tone. Shit—he must have been thinking about the crap that I knew was going to happen after my less than friendly encounter with his older brother. Deciding to change the subject, I mused on how he and his brother were nothing alike. We sat there conversing for the next five minutes until finally Ed decided to grace us with his presence.

"Al, I'm ready to go…" The alchemist's attention soon fell to me as the smile he had earlier melted into a frown. "Great… the god damn stalker's here." He snarled a bit antagonistically at me. Beautiful, what the hell was up his ass now?

"What's your problem?" I huffed before I stood up to tower over him to try and seem a bit more intimidating. Thank you height advantage! At least I had one thing I could easily rub in the alchemist's face.

"My _problem_? I'll tell you what my freaking problem is; it's how you know that…" His eyes shifted around in a paranoid manner before he grabbed onto my left wrist then dragged me out of the diner with a worried Al in pursuit. "Come on." I yelped while struggling to get free from his grasp, but the bastard had used his **automail** hand. Crafty son of a bitch!

"Let me go! The hell did I do to you now, damn it?" I spat at the Elric with annoyance before he finally let me go after we turned a corner to enter a secluded alley. Before I had a chance to ask once again what he was accusing me of this time, Edward reached into his pocket before shoving a familiar wrinkled piece of paper in my face. My eyes widened while my mouth fell agape.

"You drew this, right? That military officer who swung by the hospital a few weeks ago showed this crap to me! Wanna take an even closer look?" He hissed as I scanned my own drawing. Nothing seemed abnormal about it, I don't know why the hell he sounds so… aw, shit. I remember sketching his automail arm now in that drawing. It mainly showed just his hand and wrist thankfully, though. "Good—that stupid look on your face tells me you know _exactly_ what you drew. The question that I want an answer to is how the hell did you know about my right arm?" I looked back and forth between Edward then to the drawing before diverting my gaze.

"Uh… would you believe that… um…" Man did I wish that I was better at lying! I couldn't even come up with a proper excuse to why I knew about something that the brothers try to keep under wraps. Panic finally getting the better of my nerves I pivoted on my heel before sprinting past Al before he had the chance to stop me.

"DAMN IT! Get back here!"

"Brother, just let her go!"

"Not a chance in hell, Al! She knows something she isn't telling us!" The voices of the two arguing brothers soon began to fade as I turned another block.

"Brooke, you are one of the stupidest brunettes in history! Running makes you look like you're guilty of something dumbass! He's going to catch up eventually!" Screaming at myself wasn't helping any to clear my mind so I could think of a way out of this. Who am I kidding I'm totally screwed! Ed's going to do a lot worse to me than a punch to the cheek that's for sure. I was so caught up with fear of what Edward was going to do to me that I hadn't even noticed a car was in hot pursuit of my trail until I nearly ran into traffic. The vehicle stopped me in my tracks as a military officer stepped out of the driver's seat to point a gun at me.

"I'm going to have to ask you to stay right where you are, ma'am! I don't want to have to use force!" Yelling at me was none other than Maria Ross. Whining in defeat when I saw those familiar golden eyes shoot a glare from the passenger's seat I silently cursed Ed to an early grave. "Now I'm going to have to ask you to get into the car nice and slowly, please…"

…

As soon as we arrived to the Elric's temporary dorm I was shoved into what I guessed was an extra room. Soon after entering I felt my backpack tossed at me when I turned to look around before falling to the ground with a groan.

"Ed, that wasn't very nice."

"I don't care." The door soon shut behind me while I tried to get up on my knees with a sigh.

"Stupid runt..." I yelped soon after muttering my thoughts when I felt a hand collide with the back of my head. Whimpering I turned to look up at a very annoyed blond midget.

"Shut up, I'm not short!" Oh great—the bastard himself was in the room. "Care to explain why the hell you ran?" The growl Ed emitted in the back of his throat told me he was down with playing games.

"…The last time we crossed paths, you punched me in the face. I panicked because you dragged me away from dinner into an alleyway with a look that shouted you were going to kick my ass. Why do you think I ran away?" I knew I was swimming in dangerous waters, but I was pissed! I just wanted to keep this stupid charade going and act like I didn't know I didn't belong here. I dared to fix my gaze back towards the alchemist who snorted at my response.

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you never answered my question!"

"Fine, do you really want to know how I found out about your stupid arm? I remember seeing it when we were at the train station! Your glove wasn't on…" That was a big fat lie, but I was desperate. Not backing down on the locked eye contact I waited nervously for Ed to take the bait. A slight hint of doubt swirled in his eyes until he looked away with a grunt.

"Tche… whatever… I still think you're hiding something from me, though. Otherwise you wouldn't have seemed so suspicious over the drawing. If I find out later that you know something important that you're not coughing up…"

"Yeah, yeah—you'll throw my ass in a federal prison or something. Listen… you've already given me more than enough grief in my shitfest of a life. Could I please go back to the hotel I'm staying at? I'm exhausted; I didn't get to eat dinner thanks to you being so pushy in the diner earlier—"

"Alright! I get the point stop trying to blab my damn ear off, woman! Sheesh." After Edward finished talking the room grew into an awkward silence for a few moments before the Elric made the first move to break it. "So… why'd you draw that picture of me, anyways?" Ed tried his best not to show his curiosity but the way his eyes kept darting back to me just made a smile grow across my lips in amusement.

"Well, I'm an artist… we draw things that fascinates us! I guess what you did on the train plus your fake limb made me have a moment of inspiration so I made a quick sketch." I shrugged while adjusting myself on the floor so I was sitting properly now with my legs bent while I slid them closer to my chest. As Edward listened to my answer his expression slowly turned into a frown. I noticed from the way he knit his brows that he was probably unimpressed by my answer. "What?"

"That's the reason why you drew that stupid picture?"

"Hey, you call that picture stupid and you're calling yourself stupid Ed!" I snapped in defense of my skills with a huff. "Besides… what more did you want to hear?"

"I dunno… just thought it would be a more interesting reason." After staring at him for a good minute I started to laugh in an almost hysterical manner. Edward stared at me dumbfounded as he stomped his foot angrily against the ground. "What the hell is so funny?" After letting my laughter die down to a soft giggle I sighed before shaking my head.

"Jeeze, you're so dense. My meaning behind drawing that picture of you doesn't have to be as complicated as you make it out to seem… even the most detailed drawings can start out from the most simplest of reasons. Not everything has to have some divine purpose behind it or some crap like that. I drew you because even though you irritate me behind belief I found the design of your automail to be an interesting challenge. That and you aren't exactly the most normal looking kid in the world." I couldn't help but grin at how I made the blond become so dumbstruck at the moment.

"Hey, I'm not a kid! I'm fifteen!"

"Yeah, and I'm eighteen. You're a kid in my book since I'm technically an adult now." Contradicting my point by sticking my tongue out in the most childish manor I could muster I giggled once more at Ed's curious expression.

"_You're_ eighteen? No wonder I felt like I was fighting an eighty year old woman."

"Watch it, Elric." I growled as he snickered in amusement that he was able to smack that ridiculous grin off my face with an insult to my age. "I ain't that much older than you."

"That's the exact reason why you shouldn't have call me a kid then!" He rebutted back as I finally gave in with an exhausted sigh.

"Whatever… also, you can keep the drawing if you want. Am I free to leave now?" I ran a hand through my hair as I waited for his response.

"Fine—you can leave. I have better things to do anyways than sit here and argue with a man-woman delivery girl."

"I have better things to do than sit here and listen to a girly midget rant." Luckily Alphonse came into the room just in time before Ed jumped me, holding onto his brother as he shouted another short rant as his head grew three times bigger than his body and his eyes dilated.

"Who's so small that an amoeba could squash him?" With that I left the two in a fit of giggles as joy bubbled in my gut. There was always something about those outbursts that just made me grin in amusement. After calming Ed down for what seemed like forever Alphonse convinced his older brother to have Ross drive me back to my hotel. On the way there I began to grow curious to why the Elrics were in Central right now… then it hit me. It should've been _obvious_ why they were there at this point! The two familiar escorts should've tipped me off right away when I was taken in by gunpoint earlier. They were there for the research notes on the philosopher's stone that Doctor Marcoh had hidden within a cook book. By the way they still came off as more laid back it appeared that they hadn't cracked the encryption yet. My heart sunk as pity filled my thoughts for when they did find out what the main ingredients were for that accursed elixir.

"_The main ingredients to creating a philosopher's stone… is live human beings._" The churning in my gut told me I shouldn't think about that subject anymore or else I would end up tossing the contents of my stomach out the car window. Getting out of the car after we finally arrived to my hotel I felt relief wash over me.

"Miss…?" I turned my attention to see that the older woman had not yet driven off. "I apologize for acting so hostile earlier. I was only following orders from FullMetal…" I raised a hand to stop her apology with a small smile.

"No, it's alright—I shouldn't have run. There's not need to apologize for your actions ma'am. You were just dong your job after all." Ross returned my smile with a slight nod of her head.

"Understood; I hope you have a pleasant evening."

"Thanks, I hope you have one as well." With a wave of the hand the lieutenant drove off without another word. Entering my hotel room I looked around with a contented sigh… I finally could get some much needed rest. Getting ready for bed, I was about to crawl under the covers before I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I thought I had seen a cat on the ledge of the only window in my room but it was already gone. "…You're losing it, Brooke. Just go to bed." I mumbled under my breath before finally taking my own advice. Little did I know I **had** in fact seen a cat sitting on the ledge of my windowsill. Violet eyes glowered towards my figure before in a flash of red light the cat morphed into a crow then flew off into the night.

* * *

Two days after running into the Elrics a third time I finally was able to finish up the rest of my work. I decided to do some sight seeing around the city from sheer boredom. I was going to be stuck here until tomorrow morning so why not enjoy the city to the fullest? Sure my paranoia of homunculi still was on full alert though I had nothing to worry about. Even if those homicidal maniacs knew of my existence it shouldn't change the fact that I held no interests of theirs. I wasn't an alchemist nor had I actually seen the 'Truth'. That dream I had weeks before when I first arrived in Amestris had been nothing more than that anyways, right? It still did make me question if I really had been through the gate though. If I really did get to Amestris because of those stone doors then why couldn't I remember a thing about it? There was a slight possibility that it was such a traumatizing experience that my mind was keeping the memory blocked. That's what happened to Alphonse after all when he had his entire body taken from him. The stupid dream rose even more questions suddenly—if I did go through the gate then why hadn't anything been taken from me? Was it because I never committed human transmutation in the first place? Then how could I have gotten through that stupid gate in the first place?

"Damn it!" Ruffling my hair in slight disarray from questions flooding my brain I finally decided to think about it later. I was taking in the sights today as a way to relax myself, not cause even more stress! Taking in a deep breath I began to slowly count back from ten to clear my thoughts before skipping along the sidewalk once more. "Maybe I could go shopping for some more clothes… I have a few extra senz on me." The day dragged on in sort of the same pattern as it had that morning. I would ponder more and more about how I came to be in Amestris then try to slap myself out of those questions before I gave myself a headache. It wasn't long before night fell did I realize how late in the day it actually was. I had been running around Central all day that I hadn't realized I was lost until stopping to stare up at the night sky. "Well… shit. Maybe I could get a taxi… I'm sure I'm not too far from the hotel. Do they even have taxis in Amestris?" Groaning a bit before shaking my head I walked around a little more to find out if there were any in Central. Luckily for me there was, but flagging one down was a whole other story. "Come on! No one's willing to help out an exhausted girl after a freaking long day of walking?"

"That depends on what type of help you're looking for." My eyes darted towards the owner of a voice that for some reason sent chills up my spin. Standing a few feet away from me was an elderly woman who smiled my direction. "Are you lost, dear?"

"You could say that… I'm trying to catch a cab so I can head back to my hotel. This is my first time in Central so I don't really know my way around…" I answered sheepishly while bringing a hand to scratch the back of my head.

"Oh my… you must be exhausted. Well, if you take two blocks down from here there are usually a few cabs going back and forth down on _D.C. Hames Street_." My eyes widened at the realization that transportation was only a mere two blocks away as I flashed a grin to the old woman.

"Are you serious? Yes! Thank you so much for telling me that, ma'am!" After taking that advice to mind I ran down the street and did as instructed. Heart racing in anticipation I turned the last corner before nearly stumbling back. "Christ's sake!" I yelped before letting my right eye twitch in shock. It was Central prison! I knew it had to be from the multiple military guards and tightened security that surrounded the huge prison. Why the hell would that old woman direct me to this place? Looking around I soon noticed that there were not damn taxis around like she had mentioned. Maybe she was going senile or something… great. I didn't like the idea of being around so many people from the military one bit so I decided to press on. There was a slim possibility that she meant the street beyond D.C. Hames. Trying not to let that sickening feeling that was bubbling in my gut about my surroundings get to me I began humming a song. "_This song sounds like a dance song, cause dance songs are cool now…_" Nerves slowly starting to melt I felt more confident once I was a little farther away from the prison. "I hope that there aren't anymore military buildings around here… if I stick around too long then people will start to get suspicious of me. I don't need any attention drawn to me from the military."

"Then maybe you should've just stayed in that nice little hotel room of yours."

"W-What?" Turning my body around my eyes soon widened at the form that slowly walked out from the shadows. "No fucking way…" I knew that voice sounded to damn familiar! My legs began to wobble while I tried backing away as the voice drew closer.

"Aw, what's the matter little girl… you afraid?" The bastard that was currently cornering me was none other than the shape shifting skirt man _it_self, Envy. "I've got to admit you're dreadfully boring as far as humans go. Following you around all day has been like getting a nail hammered into my head!" Envy spat with a dark chuckle before his violet eyes gleamed with some sort of sadistic joy.

"If I'm so boring then I can't be of any use to you… I-I'm not rich, nor do I have anything that someone can gain from by…" Rambling on about how insignificant I was, was all I could think of at the moment. I still had a chance to walk away if I acted like I didn't know exactly who and what he was, thinking that instead the stupid palm tree was a mugger or something.

"Cut the bullshit! It's obvious you know more than you're letting on…"

"L-Listen… I… I don't know what you're talking about. If its money you want, I'm practically dirt poor!" Take the stupid bait you bastard!

"Now you're starting to piss me off…" He growled while closing more space in between us. Panic surged as thoughts from the nightmare began to play back in my mind as I trembled in fear.

"_He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!_" Was all I could think while my eyes darted in every direction that I could see in. Finally my pansy ass got the better of me as I twirled around to sprint towards the closest building I could find. "_This… feels like total déjà vu; wasn't I in the same situation a few days ago?_" Mentally slapping myself to get back with the situation at hand I saw an open door against a huge wall while all common sense to actually check and see if the direction I was going would be safe flew out of my mind. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears while I turned the corner of this huge building in front of me… only to see blood splatter in my line of vision while the lifeless body of a man collided with the ground before me. A pool of blood began to form under the body while I stood there in shock. I have never actually seen a person die before, at least not in real life. Always in the movies or on the internet there would be a clip of someone getting brutally murdered but never right before my eyes. My stomach bolted into my throat while my heart suddenly stopped. Slowly coming down from the initial shock I just had it had felt like a millennia went by since I first froze in the current position I was in as my hands shakily raised to my mouth while I gripped at the lower portion of my face. I wanted to scream so badly though my voice betrayed me since all I got when I opened my mouth was a strained whimper. I finally scanned the area before me, and then almost soiled myself when I saw a few feet in front of me was a familiar homicidal suit of armor. "_T… that's Barry the Chopper…_" He seemed too wrapped up in ranting about something to notice that I was standing there so I tried my best to remain quiet. Alphonse appeared to be about ten or fifteen feet away from the two of us and he definitely noticed me from the way his glowing eyes rested upon my figure.

"I kill, therefore I exist! This is the proof that I exist! I'm satisfied with just that!" Barry proceeded to cackle after what he spat back to Al who stared in disbelief.

"_Don't you dare make a sound Brooke!_" I silently ordered myself while slowly backing away from the scene. If I had any doubts that the story knew I existed before I certainly didn't have them anymore. This was all too much to be just a stupid coincidence anymore! "_W-Wait… Envy's not too far off behind me…_" Shit! I was stuck between a rock and a hard place that was for sure. If by some miracle I get out of this alive I'll probably end up being scarred for life after witnessing a man getting half of his head cut clean off. Barry suddenly charged at Alphonse while the boy seemed wrapped up in his thoughts before their fight commenced once more.

"S-Shut up! I'm…" Barry locked his arm with the clever in it up against Al's as he leaned in a little.

"Accept it… you'll feel better, right?" The older suit of armor swung a left hook to the Elric's side as Al slid back against the ground. Barry thrusted the meat clever into the air with a sadistic laughter then shouted out. "Gehahahahaha! You're mine now, kid!"

_BANG_!

I let out a yelp as my body stumbled back away from the body in front of me before I tripped to fall right on my butt. Someone had fired off a gun in Barry's direction… I turned my head to see who it was before mentally face palming myself. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but… thank you Hiromu Arakawa!" I muttered under my breath in relief while my muscles slowly began to relax. Standing behind me was Sergeant Brosh and 2nd Lieutenant Ross with their guns ready to fire more rounds off.

"Don't move!" After the lieutenant barked that order at the suit of armor I slowly began to drift off into my own little world.

"_Shit… does this mean that the homunculi __**do**__ know who I am, then? This is just getting to be one big freaking migraine._" Shoving my face into my hands after shaking the thought from my mind I began to slowly unwind. The ground under me began to quake while my head flew out from the comfort of my palms to stare at the building nearby as it began to crumble. Clumsily crawling away before some debris hit me I tried standing up. Unfortunately my knees began to buckle before my legs gave out and I fell back to the ground with a grunt. The sergeant kneeled next to me quickly after he finally noticed I was there while he tried helping me to my feet again.

"Miss, a-are you alright?" Another explosion went off that shook both of us in place before I had the chance to answer. A chunk of the building flew off without warning then hit me square in the head as I screamed from the pain. Next thing I knew my body went limp then soon after my eyes grew heavy before I blacked out.

"_Crap… not… again…_"

* * *

**SMR:** Auuugh… sorry, this one escaped me. It was hard to try and fit everything in, plus I kept going back to reread over the previous chapters for any mistakes I may have made. I found a lot to my dismay so I've been working on and off with this chapter. I reread it so many times after realizing the same mistakes keep popping up (mainly in grammar) in each chapter. Rewrote a few things more than once… I hope it came out alright, though. Reviews are welcome! I really would like to know how I could improve on the story! I think I died after I finished typing this... hah... TT x TT

Thank you once again to the readers who have reviewed so far! They are much appreciated! I'm flattered that some people really are actually reading this! XD

Oh, right… is Ed going to hate me forever? Who knows! XD Probably not going to trust me in a long while, though. I shall be stealing the Colonel's gloves very soon, by the way! )=3 MUWAHAHAHAHAHA… fire, fire.

Truth be told, though—I'm a little stuck on where I should go with the eighth chapter. Hah… ^^;

Author's note: I'll probably go back and edit this a few more times, too. It'll take awhile because I get sick of rereading a chapter I wrote eventually and start to procrastinate.


	8. Writing my own path

Author's Note: Next chapter will be a time skip to either Rush Valley or Dublith. I'll hold a poll on my profile for you to choose what you'd like to see~ =3 Also, if you have any suggestions on how to improve my story/character development or what you would actually like to see happen in the story at some point, state so in the review or message me! I'd like to hear your thoughts or ideas!

- **SMR**

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 8

**Writing my own path**

* * *

Hnngh…

"_Envy… exploding buildings… Barry—_" "WAUGH!" My eyes suddenly shot open as I sprung half my body from the bed. Looking around frantically, I thought that I was in my hotel room for a moment. I saw the one suitcase I owned to the side of the bed with my backpack as I sighed in relief. Letting my body lean back against the wall that was behind my bed I let out a long yawn. "Hmggrgh… my head hurts a little…" Lazily bringing a hand to the back of y head I rubbed at it before cringing at the slight jolt of pain. "Stupid…"

"**FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, SIR! PLEASE EXCUSE US FOR WHAT WE WILL DO NEXT!**"

_SMACK_

"What in the hell..?" Flailing my body to keep it from falling out of the bed I soon realized I was definitely _not_ in my hotel room. Since Edward Elric was obviously in the room next door to me right now, I only guessed from getting a better look at my surroundings that I was in _another god damn hospital_. "Great… what crap did I get myself into this time?" I bemoaned while rubbing my thumb and index finger against the bridge of my nose. "Wait…" Memories of last night finally came flooding back, crashing against the walls of my mind while I trembled. "Oh… son of a… E-Envy…" There was no doubt about it now; the military would be on my ass as soon as they have word that I'm awake. It'll probably start out with 'you saw nothing' then questions on why a civilian was on private military property. "I'm so boned…" Groaning about how freaking unfair this whole mess was I filtered out the shouting from next door. Why were they yelling in a freaking hospital? It's surprising that they hadn't had a nurse storm in yet to shut them up. Maybe I could always sneak out… no, that would just bring further suspicion plus it would look like I was trying to run from the military. Isn't that what I would want to do, though? "If that Truth shit is behind this…" I growled out through gritted teeth while wrinkling the covers sprawled over me in my balled fists. "It's official—I hate hospitals! Hate them!"

_Knock, knock_

"Hm?" Turning my head to the door I flinched at the thought that someone wanted to come in. What if it was somebody from the military? Or worse, what if it was **Envy**? It could be the doctor… but, wouldn't they just waltz right in?

"Excuse me, miss? I'm with the Investigations Department from the military… I just need to ask some questions. May I come in?" Why did that voice sound familiar… oh well. Better let my impending doom in than to make it worse by refusing entry.

"S-Sure…" I grumbled while rubbing a hand to my face with a sigh.

"Sorry for the intrusion, I know it has to be difficult after the stuff you've gone through… your name's Brooke, right?" Looking over as the door opened then closed I swear I had a heart attack on the spot. "My name's Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes." If it weren't for the circumstances I was in right now I probably would've fallen to the floor then bowed while chanting that I wasn't worthy. That plus the lovely little fact that it would make me look like a complete lunatic. Hell if I can't help not thinking this guy was the best freaking dad in all of Amestris!

"Y… yes… my name's Brooke. Um—i-if you don't mind me asking, what's this about?" He sucked in some air before pulling a stool over to my bed to sit down next to me.

"I got only some information from the military officers that were on the scene last night at the fifth laboratory research building. I also confirmed with Alphonse Elric that you had wandered into the vicinity while he was fighting with a man who claimed to be Barry the Chopper. Mind telling me why you were in a restricted area?" Biting my lower lip I diverted my gaze for a moment. There were so many things I wanted to just blurt out about what had happened though I was so afraid that the part of the military I didn't trust would get wind of this. I felt a lot more relaxed knowing it was Hughes who was questioning me so I could try to think of a proper excuse. I shifted a bit uncomfortably in the bed before shaking my head in thought.

"I…"

"Why don't you just start with the beginning… I understand this must be uncomfortable for you." I looked up sheepishly towards the older man with a weak smile.

"…It started a few days ago. I came here to just deliver some inventory for my job to a boutique in Central. On the first day I ended up running into the Elric brothers… again…"

"Again?"

"Er… a few weeks prior I ran into them in East city… when I was delivering new military uniforms. I said something stupid which Ed responded back to with punching me in the face." I laughed at the memory a little bitterly since my cheek was sore for almost the whole week after that. Hughes blinked at my story before raising a brow.

"What did you say to provoke him?"

"I unintentionally called him little." Hughes began to laugh lightly before shaking his head with a sigh.

"That boy has a temper, no doubt about that. Anyways… back to what you were saying before?"

"Oh, right. We had an argument because of a simple misunderstanding. It wasn't anything big… the rest of my time here after that went by pretty smoothly. Until last night, that is."

"What exactly happened last night?" Now I had to try and play the next few words that would leave my mouth carefully.

"There… there was a weird man—at least I _think_ it was a man, with long green hair that cornered me when I was heading back to my hotel. See, I was lost so this old lady directed me to a street that I thought would have a lot of cabs coming and going. Instead I ended up in front of Central prison. I decided to keep walking because I thought she might've meant the street after that place… then that weird man showed up. He started rambling on about something and it looked like he wanted to freaking kill me!" I threw my hands up into the air for good measure as my heart rate began to pick up. Slowly trying to calm myself I took in a deep breath then let it out after counting to five. "So… I panicked, and ran to the closest place I saw. I guess that was the laboratory you mentioned… the door that was connected into the wall was wide open. I thought it would lead to safety…" My body began to tremble when my vivid imagination played back the sickening sound of that poor mans' head being sliced in half. I threw my hand over my mouth while twitching before I flung my body over on the left side of the bed where a trashcan was and vomited. I couldn't see his face but by the way the lieutenant colonel gently rubbed the palm of his hand against my back I knew he figured out I must have seen something horrible. "…That poor man…" I muttered under my breath while shaking my head. Finally pulling away from the disgusting remains of whatever I ate yesterday I plopped back against the bed once more. "S-Sorry…"

"It's quite alright, Brooke. Hm… a man with green hair… was he wearing dark clothing that cut off short all over his body?"

"Yes… why do you ask?"

"2nd Lieutenant Ross, one of the military officers who showed up on the scene saw a man fitting that description carrying Edward Elric out of the building before it collapsed." Of course Envy carried him out… right after he kneed him in the stomach. Memory of that pleasant little part made me scowl at the skirt man. He was definitely created to be a douche… no doubt in all of Amestris about that. "Have you had any interactions with this man before?"

"No—I was really weirded out by the whole thing. I thought he was either a homicidal maniac or a cross-dressing mugger." I earned a smile with that last bit from Hughes before it melted back into a small frown.

"Well, here comes some good news and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"

"Bad news—I just want to get it out of the way so it doesn't dampen the good news."

"Bad news… you're going to have to stay in Central for a few days."

"W-What? Why?"

"Until we get this mess sorted out, we can't release you from military hold. That and you have to be monitored by an officer until then."

"I'm being held by the military now?"

"Since you witnessed something that is going to go under classified, yeah. Good news is that you can leave the hospital whenever you want! Plus you could stay with me and my wife so there would technically be somebody watching you… though, you will have an escort with you if you need to go out into the public for anything."

"Great… well… I'll be happy to take that offer up." A smile grew on my face at the thought of being able to stay with the Hughes'. I wouldn't even mind being bombarded with the millions of Elysia photos that I know Maes had on him at all times. "_Now I know how Edward and Alphonse feel whenever they have someone from the military following them everywhere._"

"Now that all of those questions are out of the way… I have one last thing to ask you." His face scrunched up in a serious manner while he pushed his glasses in a secure fashion against his face. In a split second he reached into his jacket before pulling out five pictures of Elysia doing something adorable as he shoved them in my face. "Would you like to see pictures of my adorable Elysia?" He questioned with a grin spreading across his face. I would've laughed at how I saw this coming so easily but instead smiled then nodded.

"Awww~ She's so cuuute!" Suddenly there was another knock at the door before the person just opened without giving anyone time to answer.

"E-Excuse me… Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, sir. I apologize for interrupting your interrogation but Edward Elric has finally woken up." Sergeant Brosh stood at the door as he saluted the higher ranking officer.

"Huh? Oh, Ed's finally awake is he?" A smirk spread across his face. "Well, Brooke… it was nice meeting you. If you want to leave later today I can take you home after I finish with my work." He looked back to me for a second as I slowly nodded in response. "Great! You're going to love my wife's cooking!" With that he rushed out the door in a flash before I had the chance to thank him. A sad smile grew momentarily as I began to think back.

"…_Damn it. Why can't I do anything to prevent that? Why? T… this is real… so, would that make me an accomplice to murder? Knowing that a living, breathing person is doomed to be murdered in such a cowardly way? If I don't say anything about…_" My lip began to quiver while I cursed myself for being so pathetic. "I can't change what's meant to be… son of a bitch." My eyes softened while I allowed my mind to wander into deep thought. Envy knows who I am that's for sure now… so, no more hiding under the radar from the homunculi. Why would they approach me though? Maybe I should've stayed a little longer to see what Envy really wanted… "Why do I have to be such a stupid coward? AUGH! I hate this!" Stomping out of bed I wobbled forward to kick the stool near my bed only to yelp in pain soon after completing the action. Flinging my right leg towards my chest I wrapped my fingers around my foot with a whine. "Craap… not wearing shoes… owwwiieee!" Heaving a weary sigh I just let myself fall back into the bed soon. "…I wonder if this gets into a pattern that I should just quit my job. I don't want to, but it looks like if I keep missing work like this I'll get fired anyways." Pouting a bit knowing that I soon was going to lose my source of income I finally redirected my frustrations I had been sending towards Edward to all of those stupid homunculi now. Especially that green haired asshat that needs to choose his gender already! "_Relax, Brooke… relax… you can never get anywhere if you keep blaming others plus if you keep whining like a little angsty brat. Get a hold of yourself!_" Giving myself a good few mental slaps I finally came into agreement with that tiny voice in my head. No matter what crap goes down I am NOT going to roll over and die! Even if I am just your run of the mill normal human being! Screw destiny and the storyline, I'm writing my way into this so I can get myself home.

"HELL YEAH!" I practically screamed as the small adrenaline rush I had boosted up my confidence more over the thought of screwing the rules of this place. A moment later a nurse came in to shush me which I responded with a roll of my eyes.

* * *

Not long after my little monologue I was already at the front door of the Hughes household. I felt a little nervous mixed with the still lingering dazed surreal feeling I've had ever since first meeting with the Elrics. I've been trying to train myself lately to shut the logic out of my brain so I wouldn't end up losing my marbles from trying to go over for the thousandth time that this all was supposed to be impossible. Yet there I was, watching as Elysia greeted her father when the door opened. He picked her up into his arms while cradling her with adoration. A small smile soon melted away my doubts as I watched the public display of affection before me. My attention soon redirected towards Gracia as she looked at me with a soft motherly smile. "You must be Brooke… my husband told me you would be staying with us for a small while. It's nice to meet you." I sheepishly grinned while putting my hand out as a gesture of politeness.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Hughes." She took my hand after a few seconds of taking in my greeting before shaking it momentarily then we both pulled away. I looked down when I felt a small tug at my pants then blinked when my eyes met big, curious emerald ones. Bending down to her level, I grew a grin. "You must be little Elysia!" She stared at me a bit shyly for a moment before smiling with a nod.

"Mhm!" My face brightened as a light pink shade stained my cheeks. She was so freaking adorable!

"_Oh my god! So cute!_" After all the overkill of cuteness at the front door I awkwardly settled myself in at my temporary room. It was a small—but quaint guest room that had a home-y feeling to it. Dinner was fantastic—no wonder Ed stuffed himself when he stayed at the Hughes last time! I tossed my crap onto the bed before plopping next to it shortly with a long sigh.

"…What am I going to do now?" Sure, I was safe for the time being. Who knows how long it was going to be for, though. I certainly couldn't stay here forever plus the little fact that I'm not entirely in shape, athletic, alchemically gifted like that damned Edward, or cunning enough to snake my way out of this mess. I needed to stick with somebody who was all of those things until I could jump off to a safe place… but whom? "Crap…" I knew who… I also knew that they wouldn't be willing, and along with having him as a body guard I also would be kind of handing my ass over to the people I was running from in the process. Once again this seemed way too convenient to be a coincidence. "I guess who better to keep my ass alive than midget man himself…" Rubbing the back of my neck I began thinking about how I could convince him to let me tag along… at least until Rush Valley or Dublith. Then I would part ways with the Elric brothers and try to find a place where I would be safe while trying to figure out how to get home. I definitely wasn't going to stick around long enough in Dublith when I knew the military would come charging in. I'd be damned if I let King Bradley get a glimpse of my face if Envy already blabbed off to his daddy about me. "I guess I'll just have to wing it as I go along…" Closing my eyes I yawned shortly after. "Should probably get ready fer bed… hmm… bed…" Shuffling around a bit I finally got into my night clothes before crawling under the blankets to drift off into a sound sleep.

* * *

After about a day or two I decided to see if I could pay the Elrics a visit to try and put my plan into action. Luckily after a bit of talking when a weary Maes Hughes came back to his residence I finally was able to convince him it was more so to just see how the boys were doing. Guess another reason why I wanted to go was because of the trembling in Alphonse's voice I noted right before 2nd Lieutenant Ross came in then fired off a round right into Barry's gauntlet hand. He seemed so troubled… I didn't like the thought of the younger Elric trying to deal with such inner turmoil. A couple of hours into the morning I soon arrived back at the same hospital I awoke in a few days ago after the lab five 'incident'. Walking down the hall I yawned lightly while stretching my arms high into the air with a content sigh. "Mmm…" I suddenly stopped in my tracks after turning a corner into another hallway when I heard shouting echoing into the corridor. Sure enough the yelling was coming from the room that Alphonse was currently leaving. A smile grew on my face as I trotted up towards the armored boy. "Al! Alphonse!" I waved my arm to him but soon slowed my movements as he walked in the opposite direction of me, lost in thought. Frowning a little I was tempted to pursue him though decided against it with a reluctant grunt. Turning to the door I was sure Ed was cooped up in I grasped the door knob then entered. "Excuse me… may I come in?" I poked my head into the room while keeping my body out in the hallway just in case I was rejected.

"Whaaaat? You _again_?" An annoyed voice whined while my eyes snapped onto Edward. Brows furrowing, I decided to let myself in anyways as I closed the door behind me.

"Yes, **me** again!" I snorted in response. Ed sure did have such a way with greeting a lady when they entered the room.

"How the hell did you know I was here?"

"Because, dummy—I was in the room next to you a few days ago. You're not the only one who got caught up at that fifth laboratory crap." Surprise and suspicion soon replaced the emotion of annoyance in the older Elric's amber eyes as he glared.

"What the hell were you doing at the fifth laboratory?"

"I don't need to explain anything to you! Besides, I only came down here to see how your brother was doing! When I _was_ there, he seemed pretty…" My words soon trailed off when I went back to that night. A shudder wracked my body before I shook my head. "I-It doesn't matter… I saw Alphonse leave before I came in here, anyways." I murmured while crossing my arms with a sigh. Very soon, I became quite aware of everyone else in the room and slowly started to shrivel under the eyes that stared at me. Shifting a bit uneasy at the silence along with Ed not letting up his glare on me for one second I began to falter.

"Ed… who is that girl?" Lucky for me a familiar voice piped in to break the awkward silence as my gaze drifted to a young blonde that stood by Ed's bedside.

"She's just some stupid stalker that I keep running into. She's no one really important, Winry." My eyes narrowed before my nose wrinkled at the statement. Storming over to the know-it-all alchemist, I raised my hand up with a finger pointed at the bastard.

"**For the last** god damn time, I'm not a stalker! I just have the unfortunate luck of running into your midget ass! You're lucky that I suck at fighting or I would've popped you one a long time ago for clocking me in the face and calling me a man woman!" I roared, finally letting go of the coiled anger I've been holding in against the blond. He was taken back a bit by my outburst until he reacted to me calling him a midget.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE COULD BE MISTAKEN AS A FLEA?" He screeched back at me while I just stumbled away laughing hard. Everyone seemed a bit shocked at my reaction for some odd reason. Guess no one laughed at Ed's short rants before… well, at least not to his face.

"Hahahahahaahaaa! F-FLEA!" I giggled madly which only caused Edward to turn from a furious shade of crimson to purple as he tried his hardest to leap from the bed to strangle me. Luckily for me Winry grabbed onto his ponytail then tugged him back into the bed. Ed yelped then snarled at Winry when he realized who had pulled him back before finally slumping into his bed. After a few more seconds of laughing I released a contented sigh then shook my head. "Sorry, sorry… didn't mean to laugh." I put up my hands in an attempt to prove my apology was sincere as I looked over to him. "Didn't mean to insult you, either… just let my temper get the better of me. I would like it if you'd stop calling me a stalker and man woman too. Since I'm NOT either of those… I just keep bumping into you by some stupid coincidental crap. I'll try my best also to not insult your height or anything anymore… only if you don't insult me first." Ed shifted in his bed before his gaze set onto the second lieutenant for a moment then back to me.

"Whatever… why don't you just leave, then? You saw Al left right before you came waltzing in here being annoying."

"Don't you want to know why I was at that stupid place last night?"

"…Are you actually going to tell me, or just insult me more?"

"It depends if you're still going to be a jerk." I snorted when he just rolled his eyes in response then waved his hand.

"All of it is because that skinny 'man' with the green hair…" Ed's eyes widen before they were soon shadowed by his bangs when he looked down at his arm.

"Winry… could you leave the room for a minute?"

"Why?" The young teen snapped as she put her hands to her hips. "I should be able to hear this!"

"Winry—please; this doesn't have to do with how I got banged up the other night." He and I both knew that he just lied through his teeth right then.

"Then why won't you let me stay?"

"I'm not going to argue about this, damn it. Just wait in the hall—I'll tell you about it later!" Ed finally snapped which caused Winry to groan in frustration.

"Edward Elric, you are the most impossible boy on the planet!" The mechanic yelled before whapping him over the head with her wrench she sprung from her suitcase. She decided to heed his words though and stormed out into the halls.

"Quite the hot tempered girlfriend you've got there, Elric." I teased with a knowing smirk spreading across my face. Edward suddenly turned three shades of red after nursing the lump that was evident to grow on top of his noggin as his eyes grew into saucers. He spluttered incoherent gibberish while waving his hands back in forth in protest.

"W-WINRY IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND—S-she's just my mechanic—and friend! She's like a sister to me—just because she's a girl, doesn't m-m-mean an—"

"Hot damn—calm down, Edward; I was only joking! Don't go and have a heart attack on us!" I grinned when he just shot me a death glare while calming himself down. It was hilarious how flustered he still looked, too…

"Miss… if you could please continue with what you had to say?" My attention drew to the familiar behemoth that stood next to me. I was praying to every god out that that he didn't take his shirt off, because when he did I never knew whether to laugh or cry from fear of the intimidating giant muscles with legs. Nodding quietly I thinned my lips out before relaxing my shoulders to think about everything. A few minutes after retelling the night once more everyone was thinking carefully on my words.

"…So, Envy approached you?" Ed deadpanned.

"Who the crap is Envy? You mean that palm tree skirt man?" Even thought I knew all too well who the homunculus was, I didn't want to further raise the alchemist's suspicions of me by reacting as if I knew him. Staring at him for awhile I notice a twitch at his lips that indicated he was going to smile, but he let it go. Did I imagine that almost-smile, or was the famous Edward Elric finally warming up to me? He nodded instead slowly before I bit my lower lip. "Yes… I don't know what he wanted. He told me I knew exactly why he was following me around like the creeper he is. I honestly didn't know, though… I got scared then you already know the rest."

"…Are you absolutely positive that you've never met him before nor have any idea why he would be following you?" Ed questioned with a serious tone.

"No." That was actually the first 100% true statement I had made towards the 'younger' teen since I'd met him. Doubt still lingered in his expression though he sucked it up for now and nodded. "Also… I'd wipe that scowl off your face, if I was you. You're going to be seeing more of me in the next few days, whether you like it or not!" I grew a cheeky smile as Ed looked at me aghast.

"Like _hell_ you are!"

"Like _hell_ I am!"

"I'll just kick your ass out!"

"With your automail wrecked like that? I'd like to see you try!"

"How the hell did you know that?" He squeaked out as I rolled my eyes.

"It doesn't take a mechanic to see how you've only been moving your flesh arm this whole time!"

"Screw off!"

"Make me!"

That, ladies and gentlemen, was the start of a reluctant violent acquaintanceship.

* * *

**SMR:** Before I go off on my normal stuff, quick question to you reviewers: how would you feel if you had the knowledge of someone's impending doom on your shoulders, when you couldn't do anything about it and no one else had a clue? That's the feeling I tried to understand while typing up that whole moment about Brooke angsting over the fact that Hughes dies. TT_TT Oh—if you guys have been curious as to what Brooke looks like… did these quick crap doodles. XD Just delete the spaces in between for the link.

http : / soinymariarose. deviantart .com / #/ d2vjjar (Yes... Brooke has BILLIONS OF FRECKLES. MUWAHAHAHA. I guess this means Ed can make lame freckle jokes, huh?)

As per usual, thank you for the reviews! It encourages me to keep going, knowing that someone out there actually likes my story! XD Since I do value your opinions I would like to make a shout out to everyone who has reviewed so far!

**Pitch Hart**, thanks for pointing out my mistakes! Really appreciate it! X3 HILARIFYING!

**ringo**, thanks for your words of continuing on!

**KenjiSato**, I seriously hope that people give you more reviews! Thanks for the compliments on my story!

**TheNextAmandaYoung**, haaaah. If I ever find a way to give Brooke one badass crowning moment (YOKI even friggin had one! Why can't she? :U) I'll see if I can have her sock one to Envy or something.

Once again—I don't really hate the characters… I used to SERIOUSLY dislike Envy because he killed Hughes. It eventually melted down when I saw how he died in the Manga… now it's neutral with him. It's just so fun to mess with him, though!)

On a lighter note, I HAVE EIGHT CHAPTERS UP NOW! WHOOO! Not entirely sure how long this thing is going to be, since I'm just making it up as I go along. Though… oddly enough, I already have it planned out on how it's going to end. Plus how Brooke can get home… wow, when you write in first person about yourself then talk about yourself in third person when descri…d s;lgkj fdlkhsd! D: CONFUSING, IS IT NOT? I believe so…

I've decided to take this story all the way to the Promised Day! No, Brooke most likely isn't going to have a huge ass part with the Promised Day. XD I only have the last chapter planned, I don't have what's going to happen for her during the Promised Day done yet. = 3= Probably won't for awhile. She isn't always going to be around the Elrics or any other mains… that, and she would suck at alchemy. Cause I know I would suck at alchemy. XD

Sorry if it seems like I'm just retelling the story. D= I hope it doesn't! Aaaaah… blargh.


	9. The soulless woman

**Author's Note: **In regards to a message I received from _tech9000004_:

I am very sorry, but I'm not going to be adding other characters like that into this story. I already kind of have a set up on the chain of events throughout the rest of the fan fiction… it's also kind of weird writing about someone I don't know, especially over the internet. It's nothing personal. I **can** give your friend an extra special birthday shout out, though! =3 I'd hate to leave you hanging.

Soo… everyone reading this, give a special (very late) birthday shout out to **Sparrow Hakamara**, a fellow FMA fan! Happy fifteenth birthday, congratulations! [/throws confetti in the air] I hope that you had a grand time on your B-Day! X3 I hope that you actually celebrated it last year! Because it would've been a shame if you didn't!

- SMR

_I must be Insane _— Chapter 9

**The soulless woman**

* * *

…

"_Mmnn…"_

Everything was peaceful… I slept in once again during the weekday, lazily rolling about in my blanket. Though, the last couple of days had been pretty weird. I ended up having even more trouble sleeping than I normally did due to odd hallucinations I'd been having lately. It all had started two and a half day's ago…

"Brooke!"

A warm smile greeted me at the door when I opened it to see my friend Jackie, with the three stooges behind her. All I did was laugh then smile back as I shook my head at my friends. "What're you guy's doing here?"

"We've come to kidnap you. Get your lazy butt in gear and get in the car!" Jackie smirked jokingly. All I did was laugh then nodded my head in acceptance.

"Whatever—just let me grab some of my stuff? Where are we heading, anyways?" I did after all want to at least know where they were 'dragging me against my will' to.

"Movies—not sure which one we're going to see yet." My friend Chris said as he stuck his eyes back to whatever game he was playing on his DS. I thought a moment on the idea of going to see a movie, then shrugged and nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea to me then. I'll be right back, kay?" In a flash I ran up the stairs then rushed back into the living room to put up the dogs and grab my things. After already putting them up, I had almost everything I needed except for a crucial thing I always liked carrying with me—my iTouch. Even when with my pals I always loved listening to music wherever I went. It was just how I was—besides, you never know when you'll need to listen to a good song to distract your thoughts. I frantically looked everywhere, scowling at myself for having such a horrid memory whenever I misplace things.

I finally found it at last hooked up and charging from my mom's Netbook. Reaching down to grab it, I nearly jumped when I thought I saw a gloved hand rest on top of mine. I looked around a bit freaked out, though I saw no one around me. "What the hell?" I then began to suspect that I probably imagined it; even if I never had a hallucination before. "It… it felt so real, though." It didn't just feel real; it also looked familiar for some odd reason. Soon enough I made up my mind it wasn't real, then shook my head and ran outside. I didn't see that strange gloved hand for the rest of the day, either.

The next morning's hallucination was even weirder than the gloved hand. As soon as I woke up, falling out of bed lazily I knew right away I needed to use the bathroom and fast. I scurried to the hallway bathroom that was next to my room, sighing in relief when I made it. After finishing my business in there I went back towards the hallway door for the bathroom and opened it. What I saw was something that made me believe for a minute that I was still sleeping. Replacing the hallway with the washing and drying machine in it was instead a long dirt path. Around it was miles of grass and a few trees. I turned to look behind me only to see a small house with a huge sign only a few feet away from me. When I blinked the next thing I knew I was staring at the washing machine again.

"…Am I losing it?" That's when I began to worry about sleeping more. "Maybe I should stop staying up so late on the computer..." Frowning I sighed and rubbed at my head. If the hallucinations would get any worse, I decided to tell my parents about it. Until then I decided to slink back into my room to clean up a bit. Later that night was the last hallucination that definitely made me decide to confess to my parents after that. It started out with the usual stuff I would do before going to bed. Make sure the cat didn't need any fresh water or more food, and then check some last minute stuff on my laptop. If I was in the mood, maybe draw a sketch or two before I would crawl into bed.

The lamp in the corner of my room was still on, since I normally didn't turn it off until I actually got into bed. I hadn't noticed at first since I was reading about some news article on Yahoo! while trying to stay awake. Black shadows began to form from behind my lamp and engulf a quarter of my room's walls in darkness. I began to frown when I noticed the light slowly started to dim, then turned my body to see why. My eyes began to widen as I gawked in awe. I was stricken with utter fear, unable to move or even speak. I have always had a fear of the dark, and only recently had overcome that fear. Finally, I was able to find my voice long enough to let out an ear shattering scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I fell out of my computer chair then proceeded to back right into my jewelry stand. Within seconds my dad was already at my door, looking around frantically before seeing me on the ground next to him.

"What? What happened?" Scanning the room over, he frowned when he saw that there was nothing there. The shadows just seemed to vanish… another hallucination? "Jeeze, I thought you were dying or something."

"B… but I-I thought I saw…" My dad raised a brow skeptically at me, before opening his mouth for a question.

"You thought you saw what? Did you get scared from a spider or something?" He rolled his eyes lightly. I frowned at him, scoffing before shaking my head.

"Never mind… besides, YOU would be the one screaming from a spider!" I teased back, smiling at my dad as he just turned around to head back to bed.

"Just go to sleep." Yawning lightly I began to realize just how exhausted I was. I was a bit reluctant to go to bed, though. That last hallucination had scared the crap out of me!

"…I think those shadows even had _eyes_." Shuddering at the thought, I finally decided to dismiss it and just tell my parents about it in the morning. I really hoped that I wasn't going crazy or anything…

That leads us back to this morning. After a few minutes I finally decided to get up, since I was leaving in a few hours to go to a sleepover at Jackie's place. I always enjoyed staying over at a close friend's house, especially when I stayed with a friend who would draw with me all night. Anyways, it took me about thirty minutes to take a quick shower then get dressed. I wanted to do some chores before I left since I knew my dad would throw a hiss fit if I didn't. I started packing some things in my backpack so I wouldn't end up forgetting them later. That included my sketchbook, art supplies, iTouch, cell phone, and a DVD or two with some other small things. Satisfied with what I packed finally I then trotted down stairs with my backpack secured to me.

"I'm on the hiiiighway to hell." Singing a song that got stuck in my head earlier I began to bounce a bit more with each step. Grinning when I reached the bottom, I happily skipped over to the gate that blocked off the dogs from going up or down the stairs, opening it to get into the living room. The next thing I knew my dog's started barking and freaking out. The two in the cage where they would stay when no one was watching them were moving about recklessly while the one that usually was curled up on the dog pillow next to it was whining and barking madly. Confused out of my mind I looked around to see what startled them so badly, before I saw it right below me. A huge eye was in the middle of the floor, staring directly at me.

The whole room grew dark as black tentacle-hand things began shooting out of the eye. I screamed as loud as I could, turning to try and run away from it. It was too late, I felt like my whole entire body was breaking down molecule by molecule. The last thing I saw was my hand reaching out to try and grab the gate to the living room before shutting my eyes tightly.

_When I opened my eyes again, I thought I was going to go blind from the white brightness that surrounded me. Rubbing at my eyes I shook my head before shuddering. Wait a minute… white? Opening my eyes slowly I began to frantically look around. I didn't recognize a single thing! Come to think of it there really was nothing to even try to recognize. Everything around me was just an endless white void!_

"Brooke…"

_Suddenly I began to feel numb as, an eerie chuckle sent prickling sensations up my spine. Slowly I turned my head while trying to keep my breathing steady. I quickly turned the rest of my body around while furrowing my brow for a moment. There was nothing behind me at all. "W-what heck is going on? Am I dreaming? This is really freaky." The same eerie chuckle from only moments ago rang in my ears again, making me jump. I whipped my body back around again, only to stumble back from gazing at what 'greeted' me. There was a gigantic gate that was freaking hovering in the air! "W… wait…" I began to recognize the gate in time to hear that chuckling before turn into laughter. Turning my head to the side, I gulped at what I saw. It was just a vaguely outlined white figure, with a huge creepy grin sitting down. "Truth." No freaking way._

"_**Well now—this should be interesting. Wasn't expecting to pull you out, but, I guess you'll do.**__" Spoke the white entity as it rubbed at its chin thoughtfully. "__**Since I know that you already know who I am, introductions won't be needed. I've brought you here for a reason, human.**__"_

"_What? Y.. you BROUGHT me here?" My voice cracked when I just stared at Truth in disbelief. I had to be dreaming! I just had to… this doesn't make any sense._

"_**Why wouldn't it make sense? You humans believe in things that you cannot see, like various Gods, mythological creatures. Need I go on?**__"_

"_Did… did you just read my mind? Freaky!" My eye twitched as I stared at Truth blankly. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to read other's thoughts?" A few moments after that I began to think about this situation even more. "…This is really real?" Shaking my head in disbelief, I looked down at my feet. "No… I want to go home." I wanted to see my friends, family, and animals again. This was happening too fast for me._

"_**You will in time—it all depends on if you can complete the task I'm giving you.**__" Truth pointed at me as I looked at him skeptically. He had to be joking… out of all the people he could've picked, me? "__**I assure you, it was completely random. I do believe I could've picked one more athletic to do this task. Moving on…**__" I glared at Truth as my hands clenched in a small fit of rage._

"_Wait just a damn minute—what makes you think I'll even go along with this?" I thought soon after that was a stupid question. I had no idea how the hell to get back, and this was 'Truth'. It just smiled in amusement at me, as it suddenly was up in my face._

"_**Because I brought you here, and you will do as I say if you wish to return home. I'm being kind enough already by giving you a better deal than anyone else. This is an urgent matter. Something that does not belong beyond those gates into the other world can be a threat to what will happen. I know for a fact that it came from your world. You would be able to recognize it when you see it.**__" Quirking my head to the side I thought about what could possibly have fallen into the gate._

"…_If I go along with this, you will send me home—right?" It just snickered lightly before contemplating my question._

"_**I will send you home; that is, if you can figure out how to return to me here only when you have that object.**__" I gaped at it in frustration before stomping my foot down._

"_W-Wait… how the heck could I do that? I know only about the medieval alchemy from my world, and that's little. The only way back to this place is with Amestrian alchemy! Which is…" I gulped when I slowly began to think about how I could even get back. Would that mean that I would have to do human transmutation? I could never do that!_

"_**Then you'll have to find another way back. As for the alchemy problem, you'll learn everything you need to know when you travel through the gate. I'll show you everything you will need. But, as you know it does come at a price.**__" I began to tremble at that word when I gazed at Truth in fear. "__**Now then… what should I take? An arm or a leg? Maybe an organ... no—I know the perfect toll.**__" Whatever that bastard had thought of I knew I wasn't going to like it from that creepy grin it flashed._

"Brooke."

"_**I'll take the things that you hold to dearly. Which all come from a huge portion of your **__**soul**__**. How about we name some? There is your motherly kindness, your bubbly talkative side, your artistic views…**__" The more that thing talked on about the things I cherished most about myself (not in an ego-filled way, more in a sense of being happy with myself), the more I began to panic a little. "__**Now that we have this all sorted out, I believe it's time for you to leave.**__" Just what I thought would happen next did, as the doors of the gate began to open slowly. I faced them once again as fear flooded my every nerve._

"_No!" I began to scream at the thought of losing a huge portion of my soul, along with the little black hands that began to shoot out to me. I fought effortlessly to be freed of the awful things before realizing something. "WAIT! You never told me what I was supposed to be looking for! How will I know what it is when I see it?" I screamed at Truth as it laughed lightly._

"_**Don't worry… you'll recognize it when you finally see it.**__" I glared at Truth before gasping when I began to see the doors close in on me. Next thing I knew I felt the tiny little hands somehow dig inside of me, as if coaxing something to come out. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever gone through. Hot prickling sensations rippled throughout my body as I screamed in agony when they finally ripped out of me what I guess was the portion of my soul. Before I could reach out to it I suddenly was whisked away through a vortex of multiple images. Knowledge began to cram into my brain, surging while I screamed out. It felt like my head was going to explode, before it all stopped as I fell into a bright light…_

"BROOKE!"

"NOOO! LET GO OF ME! Let go of me! You c-can't take it—nooo!" Screaming, I frantically began to kick around with my eyes shut closed. Two mismatched hands firmly gripped my wrists as I felt even bigger 'hands' hold my legs down. Breathing erratically I finally opened up my eyes just to see golden ones staring down at me.

"Calm down! You were just dreaming…" Ed sighed lightly as he let go of me, motioning for Alphonse to do the same to my legs.

"…No… it wasn't a dream." I muttered gently under my breath so the boy's wouldn't hear me, running a hand through my hair. It seems that I was sweating in my sleep, too. Great… sitting up in the train's bench-chair I swung my legs and let my feet drop to the ground. After steadying my breathing I bent my back and just let my face fall flat into the palms of my hands. "Sorry… I just had a really bad nightmare…"

"…Do you want to talk about it?" Al asked with a worried tone, shifting a little in his seat. I simply smiled at his question warmly, shaking my head.

"Nah. Thanks for worrying, though." Ed stared at me as if he had a question on the tip of his tongue, before looking away with a frown.

"You punched me in the chin when you were flailing around like that." I grinned sheepishly before rubbing the back of my neck.

"Sorry! Didn't mean to!" The blond alchemist shot a look back at me, a slightly weirded out expression on his face.

"What's with the polite act all the sudden? You're usually a smartass." I just sighed before rubbing a hand over my face with a slight groan.

"I'm not always like that. I'm usually a very warm person…" Those words felt so empty to me now that I knew the truth about what happened. Ed just snorted then shrugged in response before starting a conversation with Al. Deciding to just stare out the window, I tried thinking about anything else than what I just dreamt about. My thoughts began to drift into what had happened in the last few days. First, our arrival to Rush Valley was quite interesting. When Ed was stripped down to nothing about his underwear all I could do was laugh a little at how silly he looked. I definitely got to know Winry better, too—I think we actually got along pretty well. I was glad that I didn't have to do anything to help deliver that baby though. After watching two damn birthing videos, the last one being more graphic I think I would've thrown up if I had watch it up close. I know people say that 'the miracle of birth is a beautiful thing'. I'd have to disagree if those people never actually saw the baby come out. I was happy that the delivery was safe and a success.

"Hey, Brooke—when you get to Dublith where are you going to go next?" Al questioned as he looked over to me.

"Hm? Oh… I don't really know yet. I was thinking about only stay one or two day's max, then figure out what to do from there. I had to quit my job, so, it would be pointless going back to Qalin city for me. I didn't leave anything important back at the inn I was staying at anyways." I laughed jokingly when I thought of what that would make me now. "Guess I'm just a homeless bum!"

"You had to quit?" Al stared at me in astonishment for a moment before I frowned.

"Yeah—I was just too afraid of that weird Envy guy trailing me back to the city. I don't know if I'm on the run now or what." It especially sucked since I'm not a fighter—but, I did just remember that I could perform alchemy. Kind of… I need to test it out when I'm alone again. "You know… I'm really going to miss you guys. Mushy, I know… but—I think you two and Winry are the only things close to a friend I have here."

"So that means you're not originally from Amestris, then…" Ed crossed his arms as he looked me over as if contemplating about something. I flinched—damn it, I need to watch what I say!

"Er… n-no. I came from a place pretty far from here—my family and friends are still back from where I came from."

"Far away? Don't you miss them at all, then?" Al asked as my expression softened while I looked down at my hands.

"…more than you could ever know." Suddenly I felt a hand on my head, before I looked up to see it was Ed's gloved hand.

"I think we understand, in some ways." A saddened expression washed over his face as I sighed. Of course they would understand… I gave a weak smile before patting his arm gently. Ed suddenly blushed lightly in frustration and embarrassment as he pulled away and I laughed gently.

"Aw, I didn't know you were such a big softie, Ed!" Alphonse started to laugh with me before Ed just glared at the both of us.

" Just shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Don't think I won't!"

"Gaah! Ed, stop that! You're messing up my hair, you jerk! ALPHONSE, HELP ME!"

"You're on your own this time, Brooke!"

All three of us laughed a little after the whole nuggie session was over, since I ended up finding out Ed was ticklish and got him off of me finally. Slowly the train began to pull into Dublith before hauling to a complete stop. This is where we were part ways…

* * *

**SMR**: SHORT CHAPTER IS SHORT. But, I wanted to have this stuff out of the way before I got into Dublith.

So how ya'll doing? I just started college! X3 Also turned nineteen last October… lol. Apologies for the late chapter! I just got over both horrible artist AND writer's block.

Three Stooges = Range from a certain group of Brooke's guy friends. Though, for that scene I was referring to Brooke's pals Chris, Aaron, and Ryan.

(the rest of the side notes was typed up awhile ago; I've been busy and had writer's block since last year. XD)

Okay… I've decided that I'm going to try and make the chapters longer. Brushing up on my grammar a bit to try and improve the best that I can. I haven't been in school since I've graduated, so my grammar is starting to go. x_x Writing wise, at least. I should brush up on it again to remember. XD It's sad when I realize the best of my writing is usually when I have an English class.

A **HUGE** thank you to _Cookie Krisp_ for pointing out mistakes I have made in the past! Thank you so much! ^^ I love critique reviews! 3

*hint* *hint* For those who have noticed mistakes, yet have not helped me out on them.

I think when I am finished making the whole story I shall go back and hopefully eliminate all mistakes in the first eight chapters (and possibly re-write). Thinking about also drawing a cover for this fiction… what do you guys think? =3

Also, there will be more character development plus insight on Brooke. She will also start to calm down a bit more as the story progresses… truth be told, this thing does kind of have a hidden meaning in the story. I'll tell you what it is at the end of the whole thing. For those who are smart enough to pin point the 'change' (hiiint) at the end, I salute you!

Thank you all so much for reading, adding favorites, alerted to the story, and especially reviewing so far! Much appreciation to you all!

Remember, I love it when people point out how to improve on what I have right now! X3


	10. A Greed like no other

_I must be Insane_ – Chapter 10

**Greed like no other**

* * *

"Man those seats are painful—I don't see how you guys can deal with being on those for hours."

"You get used to it."

Shuffling off the train finally, we stuck together to walk through the crowds until we finally made it to an empty area on the platform. Edward and Alphonse stood a few feet behind as they looked at each other then back to me.

"Guess this is where we split." Edward muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. I blinked before looking off into the distance.

"Yeah…" Scratching my cheek I sighed then walked over to the boys, grabbing them both into a hug. Edward tensed at first to the embrace before relaxing his muscles for only a moment. "It's been fun, guys. Thanks for everything; not going to lie, I'll miss you guys." Finally he shoved me away before mumbling lightly, crossing his arms.

"Whatever. You were a pain in the ass anyways." I just laughed at him, giving a cocky grin as I put my hands on my hips.

"Ha! Aw, come on, Edward; you know you'll miss me." All he did was give me a nasty look as I shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, you both take care, then. Good luck with your teacher." I knew they were going to need it, cringing lightly at the things she would do to them.

"You take care, too, Brooke. I hope you have a safe trip to wherever you decide to go." I nodded lightly to Alphonse, and then turned on my heel to take my leave. A gloved hand grasped my arm suddenly as I turned my head to the right. Edward was looking down, his face veiled by his bangs as he seemed to mutter something for a second. He motioned for me to lean down a little, so I did.

"…listen… Just watch your back, alright?" He finally looked up to me, a bold look in his eyes as I slowly nodded.

"I will, Ed. You do the same, yeah?" The blond nodded in return before letting me go. Taking one last good look at the duo, I finally turned my head and walked away from the Elric brothers.

That had to be about an hour ago. After I left them I had wandered into town and explored a little bit before deciding to keep to my own business. I found my way through some alleyways that were completely empty. Now that I was finally alone, though, I was able to think more about what happened to me at the gate, and what was it I needed to find.

"Damn it… Truth said something about it being from _my world_. Also that it was something I would easily recognize." Tossing around ideas in my head of what it could be, suddenly I remembered something that made me smack my hand over my face. "Almost forgot! I need to test out this alchemy stuff I learned…" Looking back and forth to make sure that no one was around, I finally decided it was safe. Getting on my knees, I cleared my mind to see if I really had learned everything there was to know about alchemy. Equations and algorithms began to flood my mind as I broke down the materials that were made up of the ground beneath me.

"What to make, though?" A devious smirk curled the corners of my lips when I thought of something, then took a deep breath in. "Here I go…" Clapping my hands together I slammed my hands to the ground. My eyes widened as the surging rush of alchemy pulsed through my body. A small pillar of the ground rose as it formed into a palm tree, with a head. The face was simple with a tongue sticking out, and strapped around it was a black headband. "IT WORKED!" I roared with laughter at my masterpiece, jumping to my feet in triumph. "I can't believe it! I can't believe it…" Running my fingers through my hair with a goofy grin plastered to my face, all I could do was stare at it in disbelief.

This could definitely help me out a lot with protecting myself. Staring down at my hands now I still could feel the tingling sensation in my fingertips. Closing my eyes I took in some air then sighed. "How much money do I have left, though? I seriously don't want to stay on the streets. _Especially_ in Dublith of all places." Frowning I shoved my hand into a pocket as I rummaged about. After pulling out all the sens that I had I began to count. It sucked that the money here didn't work the same way as it did back home.

"Damn—not even nearly enough for a room in a crappy motel." Groaning at my bad luck I decided to try and look to the positive side. "I guess I could try skipping sleep tonight." My eyes darted to the roof when I thought that I had heard something, scowling as I raised my hands slowly into position. "Hey! Who the hell is there?" Narrowing my eyes I tried looking for any sign of movement, but that was cut short when my body went flying to the ground. Someone ended up slamming right into me and it hurt like hell. "Fuuu…" Rubbing at my gut, I looked up to see a sort of filthy looking kid looking up at me with wide, panicked eyes. They had messy dirty blonde hair, smudged stained skin, and wore giant overalls.

"Aw, crud…" A few seconds' later two huge men, out of breath with not-so-friendly expressions on their faces glared down at the both of us.

"You—you brat! You're going to pay for that! Don't have your older brother around anymore to protect you, do you?" A sneer grew on the older man who happened to be in a military uniform. Looking over to me, he narrowed his eyes. "I'm sorry this disgrace knocked you over, ma'am. Thank you for your assistance." Even though part of me was screaming to just let them take the kid, the other part was saying to ask questions first. Standing to my feet after helping them up, I shoved the kid behind me.

"What exactly did they do, if I may ask?" A flustered expression soon replaced the smug one the military man wore before he frowned.

"This _filthy brat_ threw rotten tomatoes at an officer of the military! I'm throwing **her** in jail."

"Whoa, isn't that a little extreme? Why not just take her to her parents, and warn them for her to stop doing this?" Looking back down at her, I sized her up on a guess for her age. "She doesn't look any older than ten or eleven." When I gazed back to the military man he fumed in silent rage.

"How dare you defy me?" His face flared red for only a moment before he calmly straightened himself out. Slowly he looked over to the other man, giving a slight nod. Swiftly the other man took out his gun and pointed it straight at us, clicking off the safety. "Now I'm taking you both into custody. The brat for assaulting a military official, and you for assisting said criminal." Oh balls. This was ridiculous on so many levels, though I couldn't let him take me into custody. Cursing up a rainbow under my breath I lifted my hands up.

"Sorry, but we're not going anywhere with you." Clapping fast I moved to the ground and suggested the kid to duck with me, a wall suddenly rising from the ground before the soldier had time to shoot. "That isn't going to hold up forever, so move it!" Grabbing onto the girl's arm I dashed off with her close behind after grabbing my backpack and small suitcase. "_What the hell am I thinking?_" Was all that screamed in my head the entire time until we finally found somewhere to stop. Wheezing, out of breath I leaned up against a wall while hacking. Dropping all of my things I slid to the ground with a huff.

"…Thanks, lady." I blinked before looking up at her.

"No problem… augh…"

"You know… that was some pretty cool alchemy, back there! I didn't think anyone else could do that except that Mrs. Izumi in Dublith." My eyes nearly shot all the way open as I coughed lightly. The girl was wearing a goofy grin, her eyes sparkling under the bangs that normally covered them. "Really, that was freaking cool! Think you can teach me how to do that?" She clapped her hands together, face scrunched up in concentration as her tongue stuck out at the corner of her mouth. When she slammed them to the ground, she pouted at her failure. Chuckling lightly I shook my head with a yawn.

"Sorry, kid—I'm afraid that's something that I can't teach you." Not without losing something important and being scarred forever. The thought of the mistake that quite a few have done already made me cringe. If this kid ever did that… it would ruin her.

"Aw, come on!"

"I think you should head back home."

"But no one's at my home…"

"Then I'll wait with you until your parents get home." I dusted myself off while getting up; grabbing my bags then looked over to her. Her body looked tense now as her voice dropped into a barely audible whisper.

"My parents are dead…" Of course her parents were dead. Sighing as I rubbed the back of my neck I rolled my shoulders.

"Well… do you have any other relatives?"

"Only my brother." The brother that was in jail… aw crap.

"Jeeze—have you been living in your house by yourself?"

"Some of my neighbors offered to take me in, but, I told them that my brother would be out of jail real soon. I know it. He didn't do anything wrong and the military has to realize it eventually…" Denial was always a very pitiful thing to be in. She shuffled about awkwardly before looking up to me. "The only reason why he was arrested because he pulled that jerk away from me that was chasing me and threw him against the wall. He was protecting me because that guy was mad at me for stealing some money from him." Her eyes softened when she spoke about her brother.

Even though I sort of agreed with her brother throwing him, he still did technically assault him. So he was guilty then and unfortunately belonged in jail. I didn't know how long someone who assaulted an officer would serve in jail but it still was too long to leave a little girl uncared for.

"What's your name?" I decided to change the subject before trying to think of something to help her understand.

"Moira Westland." A small smile curled on my face as I offered my hand out to her.

"Brooke." She grasped onto my hand and shook enthusiastically as I looked over my shoulder. "I don't think it would really be safe for you to return to your house for the night, at least. Guess you'll have to stick with me…"

"Awesome! Where are you staying at, anyways?"

"….well…I'm actually just passing through town. I'm kind of broke." Laughing nervously I waited for her reaction as Moira blankly stared at me. To my surprise she shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"I've had worse happen to me. As long as we stay in this area of the city we shouldn't be bothered." An optimistic smiled beamed from her as she bounced right next to me. "So, where are you going, anyways, Ms. Alchemist?"

"Truth be told, not really sure yet."

"That isn't really a good thing when you're traveling around you know. Don't ya even have a map?"

"Nope."

"Wow, for an alchemist you're not very bright, are you?"

"What did you just say?"

"Aaah! Don't hurt me, Ms. Alchemist!" Laughter echoed as I chased her around the alleyway, the two of us grinning all the while as the afternoon slowly began to sink into the night.

* * *

"Reminder… never sleep on crates, ever again." Groggily waking up from my short slumber I gave an irritated yawn before rubbing at my eyes. Next to me with her head nuzzled against my backpack for a pillow was Moira, still sound asleep. The sun wasn't even up yet, either.

"Well, well… looks like Bido was right. She is just a kid." A familiar voice echoed from the shadows as my eyes widen. Raising my hands up I was about to clap them together to make a weapon but froze when I heard the voice shout a command.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, kid. Heard that you don't have anywhere to stay or go—here to make you an offer." The voice suddenly approached with two other figures behind him. "Our boss is interested in your skill. Not just any alchemists can perform with a transmutation circle. We're offering you to come and work for us, what do you say?" I knew that it was early and I was exhausted, but even in my dazed state I knew that it was the damn Chimeras from the Devil's Nest.

That was the exact place I wanted to avoid while being here. Narrowing my eyes I looked back down at Moira, who luckily was still asleep. Keeping my voice low I glared back at Dolcetto.

"I'm afraid I have to decline. I'm not an alchemist for hire, and I don't plan on staying in Dublith no longer than another day or two." Dolcetto heaved a sigh as he looked away from me and to Roa.

"Guess we have to do this the hard way… Roa, think you can tie her up? I'll keep her still…"

"What about the little girl next to her?" The cow pointed to Moira who began to stir now.

"Greed didn't say anything about her, just leave the small fry." Without another word Dolcetto charged at me in a flash, hardly giving me enough time to stumbled off the crates and clap my hands to transmute a giant fist that flew out of the ground. To my surprise and change of luck it smashed him right in the gut and he fell to the ground for a moment. Grabbing my stuff and picking up a now awake Moira, I jumped to it and started to run off.

"W-What the heck's going on? Brooke?" Moira looked around frantically.

"We got some company, and I'm trying to lose them. Crap, how much do you weigh?" Since I've never been a very active person I rapidly began to slow down. When I finally came to a stop I almost fell to the ground after setting Moira on her feet. "Haaah… hah… I think… we lost them…"

"Afraid not, kiddo." Before I could even turn my head to the sound of a female voice I was face down to the ground in seconds. Martel was on top of me and had me pinned to the ground, her knee digging into my back and hands locking my wrists in place.

"Damn it! Let me go!"

"Roa! Tie her up." Martel yelled over her shoulder as the giant came over then began to do just that. Moira rushed to push Martel off of me but was picked up and slung under Dolcetto's arm.

"Not so fast, shorty."

"No! Brooke! Let her go and put me down!" Moira struggled but soon was knocked out by Dolcetto.

"I hate noisy brats." He muttered as he used his free hand to pick his ear with his pinky finger.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" I screamed as Roa picked me up and flung me over his shoulder after making sure I was tied. Dolcetto sighed then looked up at me.

"Relax, Brooke, right? I just knocked her out so she'll be fine when she wakes up." Clenching my teeth I huffed at the older man.

"I won't complain about coming with you if you take her with me."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making deals with us. I tried to earlier, but you just hit me in the stomach instead."

"Just let her come along, Dolcetto. Maybe she'll be more willing to cooperate if we have leverage over her or something." Martel piped in as the trio began to walk off. I didn't like the idea of that at all. I just wanted them to bring her with me so she wouldn't be caught by that military dick. How the hell was I supposed to get out of this situation now?

I should've hopped on a train when I had the chance.

…

…

We finally reached the Devil's Nest after probably a ten minute walk. When we got inside the faint smell of booze from the previous night lightly stung my nostrils. Crinkling my nose at the smell I tried ignoring it by just taking in my surroundings.

"What is the point of kidnapping me, anyways?" I finally muttered while glaring at Dolcetto behind us. The dog chimera shrugged, adjusting Moira under his arm.

"Boss usually likes rare things that practically no one has. He also thinks you can help him with something he's going to attempt soon." I didn't like the sound of that.

"_Calm down, Brooke. Maybe you can persuade them to set you free if you do something for them. Everything will be okay, get out before the military comes storming in, no problem!_" Soon I was taken into a weird room, and set down on a chair. After trying to struggle around to see if I could untie myself, I finally gave up for now and groaned. "Damn…"

"Hey, now—is that any way to treat a guest? Come on, guys, untie her." Gazing over to another doorway I watched as a tall man with pointy black hair came strolling in. His glasses gleamed from the light in the room as he let them droop down to the bridge of his nose. After being untied, the man approached me with a toothy grin spread across his face. "Name's Greed; you're probably wondering why I had my associates bring you to me, Miss…?" Rolling my eyes I felt like saying something smart but bit my tongue and sucked it up.

"It's Brooke, and, it's not much of a mystery to why your goons brought me here. One of your other lackeys saw me perform alchemy without a transmutation circle. You want to exploit that and whatever knowledge in alchemy I have to your advantage." Greed blinked before pulling away to laugh. Slowly clapping, his signature cocky smirk didn't let up even when he started talking again.

"Very good, I should've expected such from an alchemist that knows what they are doing. So, I'm sure my associates gave you an offer earlier."

"Answer is no. I don't want to or plan on staying here in Dublith for very long. Also, what did your goons do with the kid that was with me?" Greed sighed, shrugging as he thought it over.

"Oh, you mean that little girl? She's safe, with your things. She's still knocked out in the next room." Good… she was okay. Almost forgot Greed's thing with not hurting women. "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider? I mean, come on—working with us can be fun." After staring at me for a little while he finally gave a light smile and shrugged once more. "Fine. Then how about I offer you some money? Heard that you were short on the stuff, even too poor to afford that ticket you want out of this place. I just need you to help me with some things before I pay you." Looking back down to me he moved his hand forwards to try and seal the deal. "What do ya say?"

I can't lie; this was a very tempting offer. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad what he wanted me to do. Out of all the homunculi to trust I'd rather choose him, and that's saying a lot. "I'm not going to end up hurting anyone, am I?" At first he looked a tad skeptically at me.

"It depends on if something happens to my plan. If nothing happens, then you won't have to hurt anybody." He took his hand away as he shoved both of them back into his pockets, walking around me now. "On the other hand… if something does, you will be asked to cooperate and put a stop to whoever is causing problems if my people can't handle them."

"You mean chimeras?" Greed raised a brow when I once again spoke without thinking. Damn, guess I just wanted to be unpredictable.

"How exactly did you figure that one out?" Scoffing lightly, I rolled my eyes.

"Please. There is obviously something altered about their bodies that had to deal with alchemy. At first I didn't notice a thing; that was until that woman assaulted me. Her movements and vice grip reminded me that of a snake. I've heard of human chimeras before, but I didn't think they were real until now." Did I just pull all of that out of my ass? Yes I did. Though, I didn't care how it sounded to anyone else, as long as Greed bought it. After carefully studying his expressions he finally chuckled.

"Haha! Now that is actually impressive. I thought I might've needed to explain that to you. Well then, does that mean that you're in?"

"…yes. I'll take the job."

"Great then; now, this is going to require you to stay a little longer than you said you wanted to. So, you're just going to have to make yourself comfortable here in the mean time." Just as long as I could get out of there just before the military, that would be fine with me. Though, not that I thought about it… I started to feel bad. I always had liked the chimeras from the Devil's Nest—regardless if they kidnapped me only an hour or less ago. They weren't really bad people in that sense. Maybe if I did stay around just a little longer, I could help them or something.

"If you're done with the yapping I think I'm going to go check on my friend. If you're going to give me a room, the only thing I ask is that she shares it with me. She doesn't have a place to go to at the moment." Shrugging nonchalantly, Greed turned on his heel and began to walk out the door.

"Sure, sure—hey, though… tomorrow you're going to start working. Tonight I don't have any need to fill you in on anything just yet. Get settled in, because you're mine for the next week or so."

That sounded about just as fun as playing 'who can stab who first' with Envy. Turns out that no matter what I do, I always end up getting lead right back to the same places the Elric's eventually will be at. Maybe this was destiny kicking my butt on the right path to what I needed to find?

If it was, then destiny has a lousy way of showing me. Couldn't it for once just leave my poor butt alone?

"Oh, kid, one more thing—remember you have to do anything I say while under my employment. Catch ya later, Brooke."

Apparently not.

* * *

**SMR**: You know the usual; critiques and reviews loved.

I didn't look over this too many times because I was tired, and really wanted to post this chapter. I'll look over it tomorrow maybe. If you see any weird typos or even something that isn't really written very well, please speak up.

Ciao.


	11. An update!

Hey guys! I know it has been awhile since I've updated... sorry about that.

You see, my computer crashed because it somehow got a bunch of viruses that corrupted it.

I just finally got it cleaned up and fixed, then I had to re-install word document. Another reason why I never updated was because I forgot what I changed my profile's e-mail to after I deleted my old one. I just remembered FINALLY.

So, yeah. New chapters will be worked on soon finally, and, I still plan on re-writing the first few chapters so they don't seem so squished together.

Until next time! :D (also, don't worry, this will be deleted once I get to it again.)


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